International Outreach

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Sea Grant College Program has been working with partners in the Caribbean islands to share expertise on community participation in environmental management and to develop wise practices for beach management.  Regional and international partners include the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Programs have been established to monitor beach changes in the smaller islands of the Caribbean, from Grenada in the southern Caribbean to the Bahamas in the north, and through the Greater Antilles to the San Andres Archipelago in the southwest Caribbean. These monitoring programs, conducted by governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as community-based groups, are yielding valuable data useful for planning new coastal development that takes into account eroding coastlines, rising sea levels, and climate change. With beach-based tourism being such an important part of the economy in these islands, conserving beaches is of paramount importance.

Since its inception in 2001, the Sandwatch program has provided a framework for school students, with the help of their teachers and local communities, to work together to monitor their beach environments, critically evaluate the problems and conflicts, and implement projects to address these issues. Islands in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Pacific regions are taking part in Sandwatch.

Publications

• Planning for coastline change: guidelines for construction setbacks, 1998
• Coping with beach erosion, 1999
• Wise practices for coping with beach erosion in the islands of the eastern Caribbean, 2002
• Introduction to Sandwatch: an educational tool for sustainable development, 2005