In the lead up to the United Nations Ocean Conference, the United Nations Department of Global Communications explored some of the ocean-related issues facing the eastern Caribbean island nation of Barbados.
The feature was documented by Conor Lennon in a four-part podcast series. Episode 2 highlights the national hedgerow planting project at the National Botanical Gardens, which is the intervention site of the GEF IWEco Barbados sub-project.
Full podcast series:
Episode 1. Barbados and the Blue Economy - Sargassum Solutions
This episode concentrated on the worrying spread of sargassum seaweed, which arrived unannounced in 2011, and has been a regular fixture on much of the coastline ever since. Conor Lennon went to Barbados for UN News, to find out what effect sargassum is having on the island’s environment, and why some entrepreneurs on the island, and UN scientists, believe that it could eventually have a positive effect on the economy.
Episode 2. Barbados and the Blue Economy: Hope and hedgerows
This episode focuses on the pollutants that, for decades, have poured into the coastal waters, a result of agriculture and the development of the island. Conor Lennon went to the National Botanical Gardens of Barbados, to find out how the national hedgerow planting project is aiming to hold water in the soil, and reduce the amount of harmful substances reaching the sea.
Episode 3. Barbados and the Blue Economy - Restoring the reef
Barbados’s reef has been declining for decades, hit by decades of pollution and the climate crisis. CORALL, a volunteer organization supported by the UN, is showing that it is possible to bring life back to the reef, by carefully growing coral in nurseries off the coast. Conor Lennon from UN News went to visit the nurseries, to find out if it will be possible to bring the reef back to its former glory.
Episode 4. Barbados and the Blue Economy – Return of the turtles
Conor Lennon went to one of the sea turtle nesting grounds on the southwest of the island. He met members of the Barbados Sea Turtle Project, which has been successful in restoring the turtle population on the island, despite a host of challenges, including the climate crisis.
Click here to listen to the full series.
Visit the GEF IWEco website to view the project's biodiversity poster series and download a copy of the poster for Barbados: https://iweco.org/countries/barbados.
