This project focuses on strengthening management interventions for climate change adaptation for Corozal Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and its most vulnerable stakeholder communities, through the following three mechanisms:
Awareness: SACD will increase awareness of climate change and its predicted impacts, focusing on the importance of mangroves and their ecosystem values as the vehicle to introduce the concept of climate change impacts in the target communities. Community awareness will also be increased through community participation of fishers and other stakeholders in a pilot study to assess the carbon store in mangroves in the Sarteneja area, to showcase the importance of maintaining healthy mangrove forests. This will form the foundation for investigation of the feasibility of establishing a carbon sequestration scheme in low-lying community lands as a sustainable and cost-effective tool for supporting community-level climate change strategies in the project area.
Climate Change Monitoring: Establishing a climate change monitoring sub-programme for long-term monitoring of climatic data and physical water parameters, feeding into predictive modeling and informing SACD management decisions for effective adaptive management of the natural resources.
Building Resilience in the local, artisanal fishing industry: Identification and implementation of management strategies, and addressing of information gaps identified in the preliminary assessment of the local fishing industry, to effectively facilitate adaptation to predicted and actual climate change impacts on the local, traditional fishery of the Wildlife Sanctuary.