Acosta, A.

Bustamante, G.

Delgado, G.

Doyle, E.

Glazer, R.

Vanzella-Khouri, A.

Wusinich - Mendez, D.

English

Aquatic Commons

 Proceedings of the 63rd Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute     November 1 - 5, 2010   San Juan, Puerto Rico 
CaMPAM Training Program:  
12 Years of Building MPA Capacity and Developing Partnerships in the Wider Caribbean 
 
GEORGINA BUSTAMANTE1*, ALESSANDRA VANZELLA-KHOURI2, ROBERT GLAZER3,  
ALEJANDRO ACOSTA3, GABRIEL DELGADO3, EMMA DOYLE1,  and DANA WUSINICH-MENDEZ4  
1CaMPAM, 3800 N. Hills Drive, Hollywood, Florida 33021 USA.  *gbustamante@gcfi.org.  2UNEP-CEP, Port Royal 
Street, Kingston, Jamaica.  3Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 2796 Overseas Highway, Marathon, 
Florida 33050 USA.  4NOAA CRCP, 75 Virginia Beach Drive, Miami, Florida 33149 USA. 
 
ABSTRACT 
Since its creation in 1997 by the UNEP Caribbean Program, the Caribbean MPA Management Network and Forum 
(CaMPAM) has undergone a notable transformation to improve its effectiveness and better serve the needs of MPA practitioners in 
the Wider Caribbean region. The continuous effort by UNEP to attract the interest and energy of individual experts, and develop a 
diversity of partnerships has been the philosophical stone that has converted CaMPAM into a communication and training program 
that now serves the MPA community of the wider Caribbean. However, despite the existence of this and other MPA training 
initiatives (by OPAAL, TNC, MAR  Fund, GEF, national MPA agencies, and other) that have contributed to the increasing 
qualification of MPA practitioners, there are still large differences in capacity between countries and there are also in different stages 
of developing effectively designed and managed MPA national systems, one –a good one but not the only- important tool to achieve 
an effective national coastal management scheme. Among the challenges facing MPA managers are lack of economic incentives for 
local community participation in MPA management, lack of government support for regional environmental initiatives, and weak 
national policies supporting the effective implementation of MPA programs.  This paper presents an overview of the strategy of the 
CaMPAM capacity building program, and the work of UNEP-CEP and its committed partners to address those challenges and better 
serve and meet the training needs of an ever changing MPA community. 
 
KEY WORDS:  Marine protected areas, Wider Caribbean, training, conservation, partnerships  
 
 
El Programa de Capacitación de CaMPAM: 12 Años de Trabajo en la Formación de Capacida-
des de las AMP y el Establecimiento de Asociaciones con Diversas Instituciones del Gran Caribe 
 
PALABRAS CLAVE:  Area Marina Protegida, Gran Caribe, capacitación, asociaciones 
 
 
Programme de Formation du CaMPAM: 12 Ans de Travail dans le Renforcement des Capacités 
des AMP et des Partenaires dans la Région des Caraïbes 
 
MOTS CLÉS:  Aires Marines Protegées, région des Caraïbes, partenaires 
THE BEGINNING  
In 1997, 50 MPA managers from 22 countries created 
the Caribbean Marine Protected Area Management 
Network (CaMPAM) for enhancing collaboration. In that 
meeting -convened by UNEP-CEP, and co-sponsored by 
the U.S. Biscayne National Park and NOAA Sanctuary 
Program- its mission was established: “the enhancement of 
marine and coastal area management in the Wider Caribbe-
an Region through sharing and collaboration to strengthen 
our national and regional systems of existing and future 
marine and coastal protected areas".  
Since then, cine UNEP-CEP has coordinated CaM-
PAM since its inception and developed a social network of 
MPAs to improve management effectiveness through 
capacity-building, strengthening communication, promot-
ing best practices, collaboration and exchange.  
Since its beginning then UNEP- CEP has coordinated all 
activities aimed at developing MPA capacity.  In 2004, 
CaMPAM was revitalized by creating partnerships with 
other institutions which contributed with funding and 
expertise. 
During the 2006-2008 period, CaMPAM implemented 
the following activities: 
i) Two Regional Training the Trainers Courses 
(ToT) for MPA managers: in 2006 in the Florida 
Keys Natl. Marine Sanctuary,  Florida, and in 
2007,in Sian Ka’an B.R., Tulúm , Mexico, with 
12 - 15 participants each, and in-kind contribution 
from numerous local institutions; 
ii) Sixteen (16) local follow-up training activities 
with ca. 200 participants, targeting issues ranging 
from park rangers/managers training, to nation-
wide MPA national systems development, to 
fostering ecotourism best practices and site co-
management scheme development. 
iii) Updating of ToT MPA managers Manual (http://
www.cep.unep.org/publications/spaw/tot-manual-
en.pdf); 
    Bustamante, G.  et al.   GCFI:63   (2011) Page 311 
iv) ToT program external assessment (http://
www.cep.unep.org/publications/spaw/tot-
evaluation.pdf) with recommendations for 
program improvement; 
v) Reestructuring and population of the regional 
MPA database (http://cep.unep.org/
caribbeanmpa); 
vi) Co-management of the SGP by GCFI; 5 projects 
funded involving 12 countries (http://
cep.unep.org/caribbeanmpa); 
vii) CaMPAM@yahoo.com list management; 
viii) Secured funding from different donors, and 
ix) Engaged institutional partners (TNC, GCFI, 
NOAA, Instituto Universitario Tulúm, etc.) that 
provided resources and expertise for ToT, SGP, 
and participation at Annual GCFIs. 
 
With the recently hired Coordinator, CaMPAM should 
enhance its capacity building program by securing 
resources (funding and in-kind contributions), identifying 
and building synergy for collaboration with similar 
initiatives, and expanding membership activism and 
participation. 
The UNEP Caribbean Program, the Caribbean MPA 
Management Network and Forum (CaMPAM) has 
undergone a notable transformation to improve its effec-
tiveness and better serve the needs of MPA practitioners in 
the Wider Caribbean region.  
The continuous effort by UNEP to attract the interest 
and energy of individual experts, and develop a diversity of 
partnerships has been the philosophical stone that has 
converted CaMPAM into a communication and training 
program that now serves the MPA community of the wider 
Caribbean.  However, despite the existence of this and 
other MPA training initiatives (by OPAAL, TNC, MAR  
Fund, GEF, national MPA agencies, and other) that have 
contributed to the increasing qualification of MPA 
practitioners, there are still large differences in capacity 
between countries and there are also in different stages of 
developing effectively designed and managed MPA 
national systems, one –a good one but not the only- 
important tool to achieve an effective national coastal 
management scheme 
Among the challenges facing MPA managers are lack 
of economic incentives for local community participation 
in MPA management, lack of government support for 
regional environmental initiatives, and weak national 
policies supporting the effective implementation of MPA 
programs.  This paper presents an overview of the strategy 
of the CaMPAM capacity building program, and the work 
of UNEP-CEP and its committed partners to address those 
challenges and better serve and meet the training needs of 
an ever changing MPA community. 
 
 
 
CAMPAM ACTIVITIES   
 
i) Regional Training of Trainers (ToT) Programme;  
ii) Exchange visits of fishers and MPA managers;  
iii) Small grants aimed at strengthening MPAs and 
promoting sustainable fisheries and alternative 
livelihoods for fishers in or around MPAs (http://
www.gcfi.org/SGF/SGFEng.php); 
iv) A regional comprehensive MPA Database (http://
cep.unep.org/caribbeanmpa);  
v) Information dissemination via the list serve 
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/campam/ );  
vi) Publications, and  
vii) Discussion fora for managers and scientists.  
 
Since 2004, CaMPAM has established partnerships 
with relevant institutions from the region which have 
contributed with resources (both funding and expertise), 
namely the Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, 
NOAA’s National Sanctuary, Coral Reef Conservation 
Programs, and International Office, and The Nature 
Conservancy.  
 
Training of Trainers 
Since 1999, 7 regional courses for MPA Managers 
(totaling ca. 110 participants) have been delivered (Saba, 
Netherlands Antilles); Parque del Este (Dominican 
Republic); the Soufriere Marine Management Area (St. 
Lucia); two at the Florida Keys NMS (Florida, USA); and 
the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve (Tulúm, Mexico), and 
the Buccoo Reef Marine Park (Trinidad and Tobago). 
These courses were funded by several donors and also 
received in-kind contributions from local experts and 
institutions.  Approximately 60 follow-up local training 
activities (with more than 1,200 persons trained in ca. 25 
countries and territories) have been implemented by the 
alumni of the regional courses, which have had great 
impact locally and nation-wide.  The training manuals in 
both English and Spanish (http://www.cep.unep.org/
publications-and-resources/promotional-material/
publications) comprise eight modules on Caribbean MPA 
planning, management, research,  monitoring and regional 
policy, along with communication and teaching skills, a 
bibliographic list with more than 300 bibliographic 
references hyperlinked to pdf files, as well as class 
presentations.  
 
Small Grants Programme 
Run by UNEP-CEP and recently with cooperation 
from GCFI; involves MPA and fisheries managers and has 
benefitted ca. 15 countries http://www.gcfi.org/SGF/
SGFEng.php.   
 
 
 
 
 Page 312  63rd Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute  
MPA Database 
With 77 fields (identity, legal, biophysical and 
management) http://cep.unep.org/caribbeanmpa, it is being 
populated and will establish links with similar activities 
and individual websites. The Database will be a standard-
ized repository of detailed information for Caribbean 
MPAs and a resource for producing regional analyses and 
periodic reports.   
vii) Organize MPA-related sessions at GCFI Annual 
Meetings, by procuring sponsorship for the 
attendance of MPA managers and conservation-
minded fishers;  
viii) Complete and maintain the regional MPA 
Database, and disseminate summary reports on the 
“The State of the Caribbean MPAs” to a broad 
audience;  
ix) Provide assistance on grant proposal opportunities 
and development, as well as sources of infor-
mation to MPA managers, and  
x) Mobilize volunteer efforts to expand CaMPAM 
activities.  
 
CaMPAM will continue to serve as a significant 
resource for the region and contribute to the creation of a 
true learning community of Caribbean MPA practitioners, 
thus supporting the process of developing effective MPA 
networks in the next decade.  
Participants of ToT course meet leaders of the fishing and 
ecotourism co-operative in Punta Allen, Sian Ka’an 
Biosphere Reserve, in September 2007. 
Caribbean MPA data base homepage  
OBJECTIVES FOR 2009-2010  
 
i) Expand the network with policy makers and the 
business sector; 
ii) Build synergy by coordinating activities with 
local, national and international organizations and 
programs;  
iii) Expand Training the Trainers Programme by 
incorporating new training tools and engaging 
regional institutions;  
iv) Create an active Leadership and Resource Team 
that can advise and attract resources to expand 
CaMPAM capacity building program; 
v) Create a mentorship program for managers using 
existing expertise in important areas of interest 
(e.g. community-based ecotourism, best practices, 
monitoring, and co-management); 
vi) Enhance communication and exchange visits; 


CaMPAM Training Program: Overview of 12 Years Building MPA Capacity and Developing Partnerships in the Wider Caribbean.

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CaMPAM Training Program: Overview of 12 Years Building MPA Capacity and Developing Partnerships in the Wider Caribbean.

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