Abstract

Challenges, experiences and lessons learnt throughout the 4-years (2015-2019) “Biodiversity for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean through Ecosystem Based Management” project (executed by UN Environment - Caribbean Environment Programme under the SPAW Protocol), are illustrated to disseminate the outcomes of the Ecosystem Based Management Decision Support System (EBM-DSS) Dominican pilot, and to briefly describe how these experiences strengthened the foundations of an ongoing project in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea (Mediterranean Forum For Applied Ecosystem- Based Management, MED4EBM). The Dominican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA) and the EBM-DSS team guided the gathering of specific information, the establishment of the online database and the decision support software tool based on the ecosystem components and their indicators. Monitoring and management protocols were established with responsibilities assigned to the various member-organisations of the interdisciplinary working group according to their respective institutional mandates and capabilities. A special EBM-DSS Unit was also established within MARENA for the routine handling the EBM-DSS database and software tools valorising synergies with the Project Biodiversidad Costera y Turismo (BCyT, funded by the GEF). The crucial role of effective networking and partnering and the vision for developing EBM-DSS applications to further spread EBM in coastal and marine domains are also discussed, drawing a parallel with the EBM-DSS experiences of the MED4EBM project (2019-2022), currently ongoing in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and funded by the ENI CBC MED Programme

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