Times of the Islands Summer 2023

green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources
Opposite page: Work has been completed to understand the current state of sand habitats, and to identify which areas may be particularly
vulnerable to increasing pressure from human activities and climate change.
Above: Mangrove forests improve water quality, provide nursery habitat for fish, act as carbon sinks, and protect the coastline from erosion.
The coasts and oceans surrounding the Turks &
Caicos Islands provide many benefits and are crucial to
the Islands’ economy, livelihoods, and resilience. These
marine environments are the focus of a multi-partner
project that has developed marine management tools
and training to support decision making to protect these
diverse and valuable environments.
As people, it can be difficult to measure a healthy
lifestyle without understanding what impacts our health,
such as diet, exercise, pre-existing conditions, and pollution.
The same is true for our coasts and oceans. The
waters of the Turks & Caicos Islands are home to a diverse
range of habitats which includes coral reefs, seagrass
beds, sand, and mangroves. These places are important
for animals such as turtles, grouper, and conch.
Together, these habitats and species provide important
benefits for humans such as coastal protection, fisheries,
tourism opportunities, and carbon storage. However, if
we don’t understand the extent of these benefits or how
they are impacted by pressures on the environment, we
can’t make accurate decisions to ensure the “health” of
these areas for the benefit of biodiversity, the economy,
and for the people.
Developing ways to build this understanding has
been the focus of a three-year long project, funded by
the UK Government through Darwin Plus, and led by
the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the
Turks & Caicos Government Department of Environment
and Coastal Resources (DECR), and the South Atlantic
Environmental Research Institute (SAERI). The project has
developed three broad techniques for assessing marine
and coastal environments, all of which will help to guide
decisions on what is required to improve the health of
these areas.
©EVE ENGLEFIELD
Times of the Islands Summer 2023 35