-
by pltm
(PLTM) - Chairman of the Virgin Islands Party), Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. Natalio Wheatley has his eyes set on accessing funding through the United Kingdom’s Blue Belt initiative.
The Blue Belt is the UK Government’s flagship international marine conservation Programme that works closely with UK Overseas Territories to assist them in creating and maintaining healthy and productive marine ecosystems.
“Of course, we want to participate in the Blue Belt initiative that the United Kingdom is doing with its overseas territories. And that Blue Belt initiative will allow us to fund some of these aspects of things,” Dr. Wheatley stated.
According to the UK, the UK Overseas Territories are home around 90% of the UK’s biodiversity, and host a huge range of unique and endangered species, some of which are found no-where else on earth.
Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands are already signed on to the flagship programme which is seen has been central to the UK Government’s ambition of leading action to tackle the serious global problems of overfishing, species extinction and climate change.
The Blue Belt aims to assist the UK Overseas Territories in protecting and enhancing ocean health to halt biodiversity loss, enable sustainable growth, ensure climate change resilience, and to connect people with the natural environment.
Between 2022 – 2025, the Programme will be funded directly by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s International Programme Fund.
The funding will provide ongoing support for the management, enforcement and scientific monitoring of Marine Protected Areas, and will allow us to develop our understanding of the effectiveness of the marine protection in place. We will also be able to support other OTs who wish to enhance their marine protection and sustainable management.
-----
Copyright 2023 by Virgin Islands Platinum News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
