This policy brief of the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) summarises key findings of a project entitled “Policies and Institutions for Wetlands Management: Training for Managers from the Insular Caribbean" implemented by the institute in 2006 in Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago. The project was funded by the Ramsar Convention's Wetlands for the Future Fund. The briefing describes Caribbean wetlands, participatory wetlands management, and challenges to the effective management of wetlands. The research component focused on analysing the actual and potential contribution of the international Convention on Wetlands (the Ramsar Convention) in facilitating participatory approaches to and integrated management of wetlands.

Briefly, the wetlands described - mangrove and freshwater marshes and swamps, nearshore coral reefs, sea grass beds, and riverine and underground systems - are now under increasing pressure from human activity, primarily related to development. As stated here, "The Ramsar 'wise use' principle for the sustainable utilisation of wetlands is particularly relevant in the Caribbean because of the limited size of the islands and the high dependency on the natural resources’ goods and ecological services to support livelihoods. This principle integrates the conservation of wetlands with sustainable use for the health and well-being of people through an integrated management approach..." requiring equitable and effective participation of all stakeholders (from government to local communities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the private sector and academia) in decision-making.

The challenges recognised in the study include:

• the need for establishment and implementation of national wetlands policies through legislation;
• weak cross-sectoral links in wetlands management responsibilities, which also hinder planning and development of strategy from policy;
• a perceived lack of political will for implementation of multilateral agreements on wetlands policy;
• a lack of recognition of the value of goods and services from wetlands;
• insufficient data to guide planning;
• human capacity challenges in government and civil society, and;
• a lack of understanding and appreciation of participation.

Lessons for applying participatory approaches are presented in three categories: need, useful Ramsar Convention mechanisms, and application of participatory approaches. They are the following:

1. To form a consensual vision for balancing livelihood and conservation, the Ramsar "wise use" philosophy is the mechanism that can be applied through equitable inclusion of stakeholders, including informal and illegal resource users, interest groups, agencies legally designated for management, and local communities. These stakeholders then identify use needs and conflicts and negotiate trade-offs.
2. To outline a clear framework for management, including a wetlands definition, goals, objectives, principles, mechanisms (research, restoration, sustainable use), and responsibilities of different stakeholders, the Ramsar Convention obliges each country to write policy in a participatory manner, involving all stakeholders in conceptualisation and planning of the management framework, which clearly identifies stakeholders roles and responsibilities, while allowing for ongoing testing, evaluation, monitoring, and adaptation.
3. A National Wetlands Committee (NWC) integrating all sectors (e.g., agriculture, forestry, tourism, community development, land use planning, etc.) at regional, national, and local levels should be appointed, based on a rigourous stakeholder identification and analysis with institutional mapping of collaboration, roles, and responsibilities.
4. Human and financial resources, including capacity building, from collaborative stakeholder sources in support of wetlands management, need to include:

• skills in the facilitation of participatory processes;
• technical skills in wetland management;
• skills in organisational development;
• skills in planning, monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive management;
• functional linkages with other sectors and stakeholders; and
• institutional arrangements and organisational world view and culture that enables participatory management.

The document concludes with recognition of the inevitable trade-offs between livelihood needs and conservation, as well as the need for the tools and methods to negotiate these. It states that the Ramsar Convention has contributed in varying degrees to catalysing, stimulating, and supporting development of national policy, institutions, and actions for wetlands management, including some stakeholder participation, in some Caribbean islands.