Foresters discuss impact of climate change in the Caribbean

Santo Domingo.– Nearly 100 representatives from 27 countries in the Caribbean, Central America, South America and the United States gathered in Boca Chica to discuss and share perspectives on the impact of climate change within the Caribbean region, and at a broader scale, as part of the 16th Biennial Caribbean Foresters Meeting.

The meeting, which is the largest one to date, was sponsored by the US Forest Service, the International Institute of Tropical Forestry, the US Embassy through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and The Nature Conservancy. The Symposium was organized by the Puerto Rican Conservation Foundation.

This year’stheme, "Forest Management, Climate Change and Biodiversity: Advancing anunderstanding of Caribbean forest dynamics and creating long-term regionalnetworks", focused not only on the unique challenges that forests in theregion must face due to climate change, but also on the need to strengtheninternational networks and increase collaboration among forestry professionals.

The meetings,which are held every two years at a different host country, bring togetherforesters, researchers and other government officials, who work in forest andnatural resource management at the national level within the Caribbean region.

This year’s theme highlighted the importance of establishing international networks in order toachieve common goals.