International Experts Say Anegada Is An Ecological Jewel

By Angela U. Burns-Piper

The conclusions of a recent workshop on Anegada reinforce the uniqueness of the island and its eco system and raised an awareness of the importance of the biodiversity of the territory of the Virgin Islands as a whole, according to the facilitators.

The workshop was conducted under the Darwin Initiative Project, "Integrating National Parks, Education & Community Development", a collaborative effort between the BVI National Parks Trust, Flora and Fauna International and the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew. Other collaborating agencies included the Conservation and Fisheries Department, the Town and Country Planning Department, the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College and the Department of Agriculture. The main aspects of the project were field research and training of local personnel in biodiversity survey and inventory. It involves a number of training workshops, the latest of which ended last Friday, April 14th.

The facilitators were Dr. Mike Gillman of the Open University in the U.K, Dr. Colin Clubbe of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew and Dr. Pedro Acevedo of the Smithsonian Institute. NPT's Programme Coordinator Mr. Raymond Walker said the project spans three years and its main aim is to assist the BVI to meet its obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity. "Some of the other objectives of the project are to document the key plant and animal diversity within two areas - Gorda Peak National Park and Anegada...also to enhance the role of National Parks as a national education body linking with community-based groups and other educational organizations," he said at a press conference Friday. On Anegada, the participants carried out a number of baseline studies to try and assess the types of species existing on the island of Anegada.

According to Dr. Colin Clubbe of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, we're dealing in an area that is of global significance and what these workshops have shown is that the biodiversity within the British Virgin Islands is indeed very special. He noted that on a global scale, the BVI is part of the Caribbean island bio-geographic region, which globally is ranked third in the world as the most important biodiversity hot-spot. "This based on a variety of components, both the plants found only here (endemic plants), also the degree of threat to the habitat; so, the amount of primary vegetation that has already been lost and then also the special features of various components of the mammalian, the amphibian fauna and the reptilian fauna." The project also focuses on a local level of biodiversity that is critically important for the management of the territory. The facilitator said they started the week by revisiting Gorda Peak, which itself has some very special species, only found there within this region. They then moved on to Anegada, to examine the Anegada Rock Iguana and other species. "What we've managed to uncover during this workshop is that it really is an ecological jewel; it's probably one of the best remaining examples of dry Caribbean forest in the region and this is remember, a bio that is globally threatened," he announced.

Dr. Clubbe said they set up a series of techniques to systematically catalogue what is available in particularly the plant community. He said they have come up with a living natural botanic garden. "It really is a fabulously pristine habitat and it's made up of a suite of species, which really exemplify the best of this dry Caribbean forest." He said they are basically trying to build on some work done in the 1970s by George Proctor in recent times. But he noted that there has been no quantitative inventory work done on the plant communities for a long time. This study will contribute to the scientific database of the National Parks Trust and to the global science and conservation community.

Dr. Pedro Acevedo came with a background of knowledge about the flora of the greater Puerto Rican bank. He said his findings on Anegada have been significant, in that he found some of the species known from Puerto Rico on the island. Some of these plants include a plant in the cactus family, the acacia anegadensis and a unique small vine. "This is sort of like a refuge for plants that have disappeared or are in the process of disappearing from other islands...so, this tells something of the state of the ecosystem of this wonderful island," Dr. Acevedo said. He said he was quite impressed with what he saw and suggested that this should be preserved for humanity. Dr. Mike Gillman of the Open University spoke to the techniques used. Hesaid one of the important studies done was to look at the threat to the acacia anegadensis to see whether it was regenerating, producing seedlings and were those seedlings getting bigger. "One of the very important findings that we got from this workshop that has not been know before...was that this was a population in trouble," the Professor stated. He said there are very few seedlings; they found 49 trees and under those trees they only found 28 seedlings, which will not survive to become flowering trees. He said this population would have to be monitored to find out the reason why it is declining.

Dr. Gillman also revealed that they found a little butterfly on Anegada that cannot be found anywhere else on the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico or the Greater Antilles. He said this butterfly is related to a species in Guyana and Trinidad. He said these species only feed on grass. "This is very unusual...and that reinforces the fact that we've actually got an island that is completely unique; we've got the iguana, we've got the acacia, we've got this little butterfly, we've got the species of plant...it's an amazing collection," the Open University Professor declared. Putting the entire project in context, Director of the BVI National Parks Trust Mr. Joseph Smith-Abbott said about two years ago, the Trust identified the need to begin to understand the dynamics of the areas under its management. "We want to be able to understand what it is that we have there, because we can only effectively manage if we have reliable scientific information which will speak to methods and intervention which can be applied if we found that there are species that are endangered or in the process of becoming threatened in some way," he told reporters. Mr. Smith-Abbott said they also wanted to ensure that they were enabled to continue doing the work they started, expand that training to other relevant agencies and departments and ensure that the information is used beyond their ability to manage protected areas.

"There are key elements within our environment which are very unique and worthy of conservation and we need to sensitise the public as to what it is that we have...to understand that the areas that we manage are valuable and they are unique," he stated The NPT Director said this information acquired would assist in presenting these areas in a much better light so that these unique attributes could be highlighted in promotional materials disseminated by the Trust. He also announced that the National Parks Trust is also interested in replicating this model of assessment in other areas, which will have something unique to those areas.