Barbados has received a coral reef early warning station (CREWS) as part of a regional project entitled Enhancing Climate Change Resilience in CARIFORUM Countries.
The country joins The Bahamas, Belize and Trinidad and Tobago in having the $139,000 station deployed in its waters, approximately one kilometre off the Folkestone Park and Marine Reserve in Holetown, St. James.
Speaking during the installation ceremony, acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment and National Beautification, Paula Byer, explained that Barbados was one of 16 CARIFORUM member countries identified to be a part of the European Union-funded Intra African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) Global Climate Change Alliance Plus programme.
Ms. Byer also applauded the integrated regional network of climate and biological monitoring stations which serve to strengthen the region’s early warning mechanism.
She explained that the CREWS stations were a part of an integrated network of climate and biological monitoring stations to collect data on climate, marine and biological parameters for use by scientists to conduct research into the health of coral reefs in a changing variable climate.
“Given the specific objective of improving climate-related forecasting, prediction and information generation for effective development planning, this new marine and meteorological monitoring equipment within an integrated station has been given to Barbados for the benefit, not only of this island, but all those collaborating with us in this climate crisis,” the acting Permanent Secretary said.
Director of the Coastal Zone Management Unit, Dr. Leo Brewster, explained that the CREWS station was a met ocean buoy, which took meteorological data and examined environmental oceanographic parameters that were important for coral reef health.
“The buoy is recording now. It sends up its data live. When we get the data we can put it on our website. We are actually building a website on our webpage www.coastal.gov.bb to allow the public to have access to the data,” he said.
Dr. Brewster further outlined that the buoy would also provide information on the impact of runoff in the Holetown, St. James area, turbidity changes, and an opportunity for schools interested in environmental studies or geography to use the actual data information and integrate it into their own curricula and programmes, using live data.
Assistant Executive Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Dr. Mark Bynoe, said the 12-million euro programme comprised 16 CARIFORUM countries, including Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
Dr. Bynoe explained that the 5Cs worked with the EU to purchase the CREWS under the EU Global Climate Change Alliance Plus Programme to enhance climate resilience in the CARIFORUM countries. The programme started in April 2019 and concludes in June 2024.