Tag: Sustainable Development Goals

Known as ‘the island in the Sea of the Seven Colors’, San Andres is the biggest island in the Seaflower, containing part of one of the richest coral reefs in the world

San Andres itself is a coral island, meaning it was geologically built by organic material derived from skeletons of corals and numerous other animals and plants associated with these colonial organisms. These types of islands are low land, being mostly only a few metres above sea level, surrounded by coconut palms and white coral sand beaches.

It is no coincidence that this Colombian island is a world-class scuba diving destination with crystal clear waters, and a tourist hub visited by over a million people each year.

But being so ‘in demand’ has a key downside: San Andres’ unique ecosystems and natural resources have been deeply impacted. This is something that biologist and professional diver Maria Fernanda Maya has witnessed first-hand.

A community protecting the ocean

“I have seen San Andres change in the past 20 years; the decrease of fish and coral cover has been quite high. Just like the rest of the world, we have experienced a very large demographic explosion, and the pressure on our resources is increasing,” she tells UN News.

Ms. Maya has been diving and working most of her life to protect the treasures of the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve. She is the director of Blue Indigo Foundation, a women-led community organization that works towards the sustainable development of the San Andres Archipelago, and the protection and restoration of its marine ecosystems.

She says she decided to create the foundation because she believes that the local community must lead the protection of its own resources.

“I have worked for many international and national-led environmental projects in the past, and what happens is that people come, do a timed project, and then leave. And then there is no way for the local community to continue it,” the biologist explains.

I am an islander. I formed a relationship with the ocean before I was even born.

Ms. Maya works alongside scientific coordinator Mariana Gnecco, who is her partner in the foundation.

“I am an islander; I formed a relationship with the ocean before I was even born. I’ve always known I never want to be far from the sea,” she tells UN News.

Ms. Gnecco has been freediving since she was just 10 years old, and, like Ms. Maya, got her scuba certification before the age of 14 and later graduated from university as a biologist. She is now also pursuing her PhD.

Women in marine science

According to UNESCO, women engage in all aspects of ocean interaction, yet in many parts of the world, women’s contributions – both towards ocean-based livelihoods like fishing, and conservation efforts – are all but invisible as gender inequality persists in the marine industry as well as the field of ocean science.

In fact, women represent just 38 per cent of all ocean scientists and further, there is very little data or in-depth research on the issue of women’s representation in the field  

Both Ms. Maya and Ms. Gnecco can attest to this.

“Men are the ones usually leading marine science and when there are women in charge they are always doubted. Somehow, it’s good to have them as assistants, or in the laboratory, but when women lead the projects, I have always felt there is some kind of pushback.  When a woman speaks with passion ‘she is getting hysterical’; when a woman makes unconventional decisions, ‘she is crazy’, but when a man does it, it is because ‘he’s a leader’”, denounces Ms. Maya.

She says that because this has been an unwritten truth that women grapple with, she worked hard at the Foundation to create and nurture an atmosphere that is the opposite.

“We have been able to harmonize the work between women and men partners, recognizing, valuing and empowering the feminine forces, as well as what men have to offer,” Ms. Maya stresses.

“Our opinions, our expertise, and our knowledge have been overlooked for so many years that being able to lead a project like this now means a lot. It symbolizes a [a great deal] in terms of equality and inclusion.  Although we still have a long way to go because women in science are still undermined a lot of the time, I think we are on the right path to tackle that problem for good,” echoes Ms. Gnecco.

Saving the coral reefs

On the day the Blue Indigo biologists met with the UN News field reporting team, Ms. Maya and Ms. Gnecco braved a non-stop torrential downpour caused by a cold front in San Andres, a common occurrence during the Atlantic hurricane season.

That morning, we thought it might be impossible to report this story because the rain had turned the island’s streets into rivers, and some of the areas we needed to reach had been turned into mud pits.

“And they say women are scared to drive,” Ms. Maya said with a sly laugh when she picked us up on the way to one of the restoration sites they are working on as one of the local implementers of the nationwide project “One Million Corals for Colombia”, that aims to restore 200 hectares of reef across the country.

Earlier that morning, all diving on the island had been halted due to the weather, but conditions (at least on the water) did eventually improve, and authorities turned the red flag yellow.

That news sparked a mini celebration among a group of eager student divers who thought their day was ruined.

Meanwhile, the rest of us put on scuba gear and walked toward the shore in the (still) pouring rain.

“Once you’re underwater, you are going to forget about this grey day. You’ll see!” Ms. Maya said.

And she couldn’t have been more right. After taking the plunge from the rocky (and slippery) coral coast on the west side of the island, we experienced incredible calm beneath the waves.

The visibility was extremely good, and the biologists took us through some of the rope-type coral nurseries they were working on where Acropora coral fragments are growing. We also saw some of the already-transplanted coral within the stunning reef of San Andres.

Blue Indigo Foundation works closely with diving schools on the island, and they contribute to their restoration efforts. The NGO also teaches specialized courses in restoration for international divers several times a year.

“People come over to see our project and learn and they get engaged easier because then they ask us for the coral. ‘Oh, how’s my coral doing?  The one we planted on the reef, how’s it doing?’,” Mariana Gnecco explains, adding that when people see the organisms thriving, it helps to raise general awareness.

The corals within the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve have been declining since the 70s, fueled by the rise in the temperature and acidification of the water, caused by excessive carbon emissions and consequent climate change.

“Those are the global threats, but we also have some local threats that are harming the reef, for example, overfishing, bad tourism practices, boat collisions, pollution, and sewage disposal,” underscores Ms. Gnecco.

Raizal people’s efforts and sustainable tourism

By definition, UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are de facto centres for learning about sustainable development. They also provided an opportunity to examine up-close the changes and interactions between social and ecological systems, including the management of biodiversity.

“When a biosphere reserve is declared, it means that it is a special place, not just because of its biodiversity, but also because there’s a community that has a special connection with that biodiversity, a connection that’s been going for decades with a cultural and historical value,” Ms. Gnecco explains.

The Seaflower is very special, she adds, telling us that it comprises 10 per cent of the Caribbean Sea, 75 per cent of Colombia’s coral reefs and that it’s a hotspot for shark conservation.

“The local community – the Raizal people, that have been living here for generations – have learned how to relate to these ecosystems in a healthy and sustainable way. This is our way of living for both Raizal and other residents. We depend completely on this ecosystem and on its biodiversity, that’s why it’s important and special”, the biologist adds.

The Raizal are an Afro-Caribbean ethnic group living in the islands of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina off the Colombian Caribbean Coast. They are recognized by the Government as one of the Afro-Colombian ethnic groups.

They speak San Andrés-Providencia Creole, one of many English Creoles used in the Caribbean. 20 years ago, the Raizal represented over half of the island’s population. Today, the general population is nearly 80,000, but the Raizal make up about 40 per cent, due to a high migration influx from the mainland.

Raizal Marine Biologist and researcher Alfredo Abril-Howard also works at Blue Indigo foundation.

“Our culture is closely tied to the ocean. The fishermen are the first to notice changes in the coral – for example, they notice that healthy reefs attract more fish. They can describe a vivid picture of the way the reefs looked in the past…no one understands the importance of our reefs better than them,” he underscores.

The expert says that he believes there is a major socioeconomic issue in San Andres: other than tourism, there are very few ways for his people to make a living.

“Tourism keeps growing and most economic activities revolve around it. So, we need more fish because there are more tourists, so now we catch fish of any size affecting the ecosystem”, he says, emphasizing that better tourism management could generate better economic opportunities for locals while letting the reef flourish at the same time.

Mr. Abril-Howard explains that diving, if sustainably managed, can also have an impact on the ecosystem. It can also help to raise awareness about restoration efforts and at the same time give back to the reef.

“We need a change in the way we do our tourism. Restoring our reefs is important, but we also need to make visitors aware that it is there, and that it is not a rock, It is a living being and that they shouldn’t step on it. These are small things that can benefit the future coral cover. We also need to show people that there is more to this island than coming to party and get drunk, so they can learn something,” he says.

A job for ‘superheroes’

For Camilo Leche, also Raizal, coral restoration efforts are now a part of his life as a fisherman.

“I have been fishing for over 30 years. I remember seeing coral bleaching for the first time – you know when coral starts turning white – and thinking that it was because the coral was getting old, like we get white hairs. But now I understand it is because of climate change,” he told us just before going on his morning fishing expedition.

“Before I could see beautiful giant corals around here and it was so easy to find lobster and big fish, now we have to go further and further to find them”, he adds.

Mr. Leche says that he hopes that world leaders can put their ‘hands on their hearts and in their pockets’ to finance more restoration efforts such as the one undertaken by the Foundation, which he now helps.

“I have learned how to fragment corals, to put them in the ropes. We also go out to make the transplants. And those little pieces are now becoming so big and beautiful, when I see them, I feel so proud of it. I feel like a superhero”.

Swimming against the tide

San Andres is not only losing its coral reef cover and fish banks, but the island also faces coastal erosion and is vulnerable to sea level rise and extreme weather events such as hurricanes.

All these are destroying infrastructure and reducing the island’s beautiful beach cover. In some areas, locals say that before they could play a football game in places where only a meter of beach is now seen.

The ecosystems Blue Indigo works to restore are essential to protect the community during extreme weather events.

For example, Colombian scientists were able to prove how the mangrove protected San Andres during hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020, among other ways by reducing wind speeds by over 60 km/h.

At the same time, coral reefs can reduce by nearly 95 per cent the height of the waves coming from the east of the Caribbean Sea, as well as reduce their strength during storms.

“We know our restoration efforts can’t bring back the coral reef in its totality, because it is such a complex ecosystem. But by growing certain species we can have a positive impact, bring back the fish and ignite these organisms’ natural capacity to restore themselves,” says Blue Indigo chief Maria Fernanda Maya.

For Mariana Gnecco, it is about aiding the reef to survive during a transformation of its environment happening due to climate change.

“What we need is a functional ecosystem. We are trying to at least give it a helping hand so it can adapt to climate change. The ecosystem is going to change, that’s going to happen, but if we help it will happen at least in a way that is not going to die completely”, she says.

Both the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration and the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, both of which began in 2021 and will run until 2030, aim to find transformative ocean science solutions to guarantee a clean, productive and safe ocean, and to restore its marine ecosystems.

According to UNESCO, mainstreaming gender equality throughout the Ocean Science Decade will help ensure that, by 2030, women as much as men will be driving ocean science and management, helping to deliver the ocean we need for a prosperous, sustainable and environmentally secure future.

“The women that are involved in this are paving the path for all the women that are coming behind. Indeed, the future is problematic, and we are swimming against the current, but I think anything that we can do is better than doing nothing.”

That’s Mariana Gnecco’s message to us all.

The mountainous Colombian island of Providencia – which lies midway in the extension of the Caribbean Sea that separates Costa Rica and Jamaica – is home to stunning colours of the sea, lush underwater landscapes, extensive mangrove forests, and even tropical dry forests.

The diversity of marine ecosystems and surrounding natural wonders, including the yearly spectacle of thousands of rare black crabs descending from the mountains and heading to the sea to lay their eggs, and one of the world’s largest barrier reefs, which supports a stunning array of marine life, has led to its declaration as part of the Seaflower UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

However, as with all islands in the world, Providencia’s unique natural treasures are highly threatened by climate change and sea level rise, threats that are not ‘theories’ looming on the horizon, but that are instead terrible facts already impacting every facet of life there.

Its 6,000 inhabitants will never forget the night of November 16th, when Iota, the last and strongest hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic storm season— deemed then a Category 5* — decimated their beloved land.

 

“The most shocking thing was the sound. Our people say that the hurricane came with the devil because the sound was so strange and scary,” recalls Marcela Cano, a biologist and long-time resident who has made it her life’s work to preserve Providencia’s environmental treasures.

But that night, she would spend hours fighting to survive the storm.

She was at her home sleeping when at around midnight, she started hearing strange noises. This turned out to be wind gusts of over 155 miles an hour tearing across the island.

Power and communication were shortly lost.

“I stood up and noticed that my ceiling lights looked as if they were higher than usual. That’s when I realized that part of my roof had flown away,” Ms. Cano recalls now, adding that minutes later she heard two loud bangs from her guestroom and saw water pouring down the walls.

Her immediate reaction was to get out of the house, a decision that looking back now was definitely the best one, she says, because not only the roof but most of the walls of her house collapsed in the darkness under the force of the pounding rains and the wind.

“It was raining very hard; I almost couldn’t make it out of my house because the wind wouldn’t let me open the door. I made it just where I had parked my Mula [her motorized golf cart]. I was completely soaked, and I just sat there.”

She spent over 10 hours sitting in her golf cart hoping that the wall next to it and a big pine tree would hold up.

“Every time I would hear loud bangs, I would point my flashlight towards the tree. If it had broken, that would’ve been it for me.”

It was the longest night Providencia had ever experienced. And even after sunrise, the hurricane let barely any light come through.

“Very strong wind gusts would come and go for hours and hours, and all I could think was ‘please God make it stop, it’s been too long, please stop’.  It felt like the longest time of my life. At about 11 am it finally got a bit better, but it was still raining pretty hard.”

It was then that she saw her neighbours up the road calling her. She gathered the courage to walk up the debris-strewn little hill towards them and realised their house had also been lost.

But for Marcela, the loss was about to become even bigger and more painful.

A life protecting nature

Ms. Cano is the Director of Old Providence McBean Lagoon Natural National Park, a unique and highly important protected site on the island and the Seaflower UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.  She has worked for over 30 years to protect it, and with her team, has been a pioneer in ecosystem restoration and ecotourism.

“I looked around and all the vegetation on the island was gone, everything was black, and all the trees no longer had leaves. It was as if everything had been burnt, and the sea was up high. I could see Santa Catalina Island from there; I couldn’t see it before. And I could see how destroyed it was,” she remembers, telling UN News that every time she tells this story she can barely hold back the tears.

That night, she took refuge with 10 families under a concrete ledge that hadn’t given an inch to the winds and the rain. It was actually the second floor of a house under construction.

“We made a common makeshift bed. It was also the middle of a COVID-19 peak in Colombia, but no one could care about that at that moment,” Ms. Cano says.

It was still raining, and the island had been without communication for over eight hours. The whole mainland of Colombia wondered for almost a day if Providencia had survived hurricane Iota or not.

In the following days, as help arrived, other locals described how people were walking around like “zombies” searching for food and shelter. Miraculously, only four people lost their lives that night, but over 98 per cent of the island’s infrastructure was destroyed and 6,000 people were left homeless.

“I went walking to ask about my team at the National Park. We were all fine, but we lost everything we had worked for. Our office, our library, the research data stored in our computers, everything was lost.”

An environmental tragedy

Sometime later, Ms. Cano was able to return to Providencia after spending time with her family in Bogotá and working to gather household items and basic necessities for some families affected by the storm.

It was then that she was able to evaluate the environmental damage inside the National Park.

“I’ve spent most of my life here in Providencia and to see that all our efforts to maintain the National Park had vanished from one day to the next, was heartbreaking.”

According to Colombia’s National Natural Parks, around 90 per cent of the Park’s mangroves and forests were affected, as well as the coral reefs in shallow waters, many of which had been in nurseries as part of an ongoing restoration effort.  

“We are working to restore vegetation and saline formations. We also carried out rescue and replanting of coral colonies that were uprooted by the hurricane,” Ms. Cano explains while standing in what’s left of the pier of Crab-Cay, once the most visited attraction in Providencia.

The small island rises sharply and dramatically off the coast surrounded by turquoise waters. Tourists used to climb to the top for 360-degree views of the park. Now a new viewing deck and pier are being built**, and some vegetation planted last year, has begun to sprout.

“Was this here before the hurricane?” she asks her team, pointing to some algae-covered metal debris.

Coral reefs

Thanks to its field work and reef restoration experience over the past decade, McBean Lagoon National Park is currently the largest contributor to the nationwide project One Million Corals for Colombiato restore over 200 hectares of coral reef, with over 55,000 coral fragments in nurseries and over 6,000 transplanted.

UN News visited some of the transplanted colonies and witnessed the miracle of coral fragments fusing together and attracting young fish, bringing life back to the sea currently threatened by warming seas and extreme weather events.

“The water is getting warmer, so algae colonies are getting bigger and fighting coral reef for its resources,” explains young Marine Biologist Violeta Posada, a member of Ms. Cano’s team at the Park.

She underscored that ecosystem restoration work is a daily effort, as the team must constantly clean the colonies of the algae and other dangers that might hinder their growth.

Ms. Posada, born and raised in Providencia, has been able to witness the pay-off of the restoration efforts.

“My dad also worked at this park. These new colonies that you see here were built with fragments that my own father planted in nurseries 12 years ago,” she says, adding that as an islander, caring for the ecosystems is a responsibility.

“They give us food, shelter and protection. They also attract tourists, which this island depends on,” she emphasizes.

The mangrove that saved lives

But while corals are starting to thrive again and the dry forest has also seen recovery, the almost 60 hectares of mangroves that are impossible to miss while visiting Providencia represent a bigger trial for the community.

“We have a big challenge specifically with the Red Mangrove, the one that grows by the coast. Over 95 per cent of this species died during the hurricane, and it does not regenerate naturally,” describes Marcela Cano.

According to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), mangroves support rich biodiversity and provide a habitat for fish and shellfish, as well as a landing strip and nesting area for large numbers of birds. Their roots are also a refuge for reptiles and amphibians.

Their ecosystem can capture up to five times more carbon than tropical forests and their soils are highly effective carbon sinks, making them important ‘lungs’ for our heating planet.

Mangroves also act as a natural coastal defence against storm surges, tsunamis, sea level rise and erosion – something the inhabitants of Santa Catalina, a small island connected to the north of Providencia by a bridge, witnessed first-hand.

“The mangroves along the coast of Santa Catalina Island saved the lives of this community during Iota. Without mangroves and their ecosystem services, there is going to be a decrease in fish and biodiversity [affecting livelihoods], and if we don’t restore it, it also won’t be around to protect us again,” Ms. Cano underlines.

In the same golf cart that saved her life during the hurricane, Marcela Cano drove the UN News team to the Park’s Mangrove Nursery, where over 4,000 seedlings are growing.

“We have red and black mangroves here. We go and find all the seeds we can and put them in water buckets. When they grow roots, we then put them in sandbags. After four to five months, we can transplant them to their natural habitat,” she explains.

The restoration does not come without challenges. Along with the general scarcity of red mangrove seeds, Ms. Cano says that two species of crabs like to eat the young plants, and some iguanas chew their leaves.

“So, we have had to come up with creative ideas to protect them,” she says, mentioning water bottles, and baskets as some of the makeshift solutions.

 The National Park restoration strategy also involves the community, and the Park is teaching young children who live near the mangroves how to grow and care for these ecosystems.

“It is going to take us about 10 years to be able to have the mangroves with the structure and function they had before the hurricane. These are long-term restoration processes, it is important for governments to understand this,” the expert urges.

Tourism and local businesses

The local population of the island comprises Raizals, descendants of African Slaves and British Sailors, who speak English Creole, although most speak Spanish as well. There is also a smaller population of “migrants” from the mainland, who call Providencia their home.

The local economy revolves around tourism and traditional fishing and hunting. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and the devastation wrought by the hurricane, the tourism sector has been sluggish for the past two years.

It wasn’t until mid-2022 that the island opened back to the public but, to this date, it still doesn’t have the capacity to receive the average of 3,000 visitors monthly that flocked there in 2019.

A few of the still-standing hotels and businesses have been able to continue functioning thanks to the arrival of Government officials, contractors and volunteers who have been participating in reconstruction efforts.

Juanita Angel, co-owner of the hotel Cabañas de Agua Dulce, saw her family business destroyed by the hurricane.

“At first, I thought, ‘no one is going to put this back together’. We were closed for a year [due to] the pandemic and had put in loan to repair the roofs. Every time I saw a roof tile flying during the hurricane all I could think was ‘there goes our money, and our hope.’”

Ms. Angel says that no one on the island expected Iota to cause such devastation because they had all made it through other hurricanes.

“That is why no one took this seriously, we never thought something like this could happen to us… We are such a small island, a dot in the map, but we need to be prepared for the future,” she adds.

According to experts on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), there are many ways in which climate adaptation can be undertaken in small islands, including reducing socioeconomic vulnerabilities, building adaptive capacity, enhancing disaster risk reduction, and building longer-term climate resilience.

Recently, the UN Secretary-General described the Caribbean region as “ground zero for climate emergency,” and called on developed countries to match climate action to the scale and urgency of the crisis.

This would mean providing financial support to small islands so that they can build stronger adaptation capacity, and ultimately, reduce carbon emissions, one of the main culprits heating our planet and driving the climate changes that are making hurricanes more powerful and more frequent.

Why go through all this?

One way to build resilience and adaptation is by investing in ecosystem restoration, Marcela Cano underscores.

“A healthy ecosystem is more resilient. We must guarantee this so that when disaster comes the ecosystems can keep offering the environmental goods and services that contribute to a better quality of life for our population,” she explains.

Ms. Cano reminds us as well that one of the most effective strategies to tackle climate change is the declaration of Marine Protected Areas.

These areas provide reduced stress on ecosystems and species, allowing them to carry on the natural processes that mitigate climate impacts, such as carbon storage.

For example, according to UNEP, protecting whales is a nature-based solution against climate change. Whales accumulate carbon in their bodies during their long lives, some of which stretch to 200 years. When they die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean, taking the carbon with them.

“We need more of these protected areas, and we also need more resources to manage them well, always involving and giving value to the knowledge of the local community,” she underscores.

The McBean Lagoon National Park chief underlines that restoring and protecting the ecosystems in Providencia is not only a self-serving task, but it benefits the whole planet.

“We thought that climate change was something that was happening in other places, but this hurricane created a common conscience, and we are working on mechanisms to be more prepared for the future because we know that the risk of extreme weather events is only going to grow.”

Standing on the deck of her recently rebuilt house as part of a Government programme that has built back most of the homes in the community, Ms. Cano recalled that before the hurricane, she could not so easily see the ocean.

“All the tall trees were swept away, and now I get this beautiful view, but I am replanting those [trees] too. Just imagine how much we lost.”

She wants to make sure that the world knows that rebuilding houses is just a start.

“We also need to prepare our people for stronger events, and we have to include climate change in the development policy of our island so that we can prepare and adapt for what’s coming.”

McBean Lagoon National Park was awarded a Blue Park Award for its exceptional marine wildlife conservation during the recent UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

“Before the hurricane, I was about to retire, but now I can’t. I can’t just leave my post without making sure this Park is strong and ready for future generations,” the biologist highlights, admitting that she once thought she would never spend another November in Providencia, and with the 2022 peak hurricane season looming, the frightening memories of Iota are slipping back.

Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet – and its people. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. It can help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent mass extinction. It will only succeed if everyone plays a part.

*Hurricane Iota was initially deemed Category 5 in 2020 as instruments picked up wind speeds of over 160mph. In 2021, Iota was downgraded to Category 4 by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after a post-storm analysis that determined that its maximum wind speed was 155 mph.