Marcia Creary, the consultant with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC).

A press release from the Government Information Service (GIS) stated that the Virgin Islands is the first UK Overseas Territory to conduct the assessment facilitated by Marcia Creary, a consultant with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC).

Ms. Creary holds the post of Environmental Data Manger for the Centre for Marine Science at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and was the Coordinator for Expansion under the Mainstreaming and Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) project to the eastern Caribbean from 2007-2009.

Before leaving the Territory last week, Ms. Creary met with representatives from the Conservation and Fisheries Department, the National Parks Trust and the Association of Reef Keepers to assess local coral reef monitoring activities. She checked the compatibility of local methods and networks used for collecting and analysing data with those used under the Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Climate Change (CPACC) project.

The Consultant reported that she was pleased with the high level of interest shown among the various groups and the fact that collaborative work is underway to formulate key questions that need to be answered on reef monitoring to meet the Territory’s specific needs.

From her initial findings, she is “hoping to move to a system that will provide assistance with data analysis as people see the value in the analysis of data as evidenced through outputs,” the Consultant said.

Local findings revealed that several data collection sources exist but attention to data analysis is needed. She was also impressed with the Habitat Map created by the Conservation and Fisheries Department and the National Parks Trust for the Territory, which outlines local geographical features of the Virgin Islands including, beaches, mangroves, sea grass beds and reefs for the Virgin Islands.

Following the Consultant’s visit, she will prepare a detailed report documenting her findings and design a suitable platform whereby overseas territories can incorporate data into a regional database. Other participating countries include the Turks and Caicos Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat and the Cayman Islands. The assessment was funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.