Objective:
To operationalize integrated agroecosystem management through mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in production landscapes and increasing the resilience of agricultural systems.

Description:
Grenada’s biodiversity is being threatened by unsafe agricultural practices and encroachment from human settlements, resulting in habitat loss and fragmentation, overexploitation of biological resources, and pollution.

The presence of invasive alien species and climate change are also drivers of biodiversity loss in the country. Land degradation has affected approximately 50% of land resources in Grenada; deforestation and fragmentation of forests in the form of forest clearance to allow for residential and commercial development, non-sustainable agriculture, forest fires, and coastal tourism development are the main forces behind land degradation in Grenada.

Integrated agroecosystem management, which incorporates sustainable land management (SLM) and biodiversity conservation into production landscapes, may provide a solution to biodiversity loss and land degradation in the country. SLM and biodiversity conservation objectives need to be mainstreamed into national land use planning, sectoral policies, and legal frameworks. Incorporated into SLM are climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices that can contribute to ensuring the long-term sustainability of agricultural production at the community and producer levels. However, there are three overarching barriers that stand in the way of advancing this long-term solution of the effective implementation of SLM and CSA practices and the mainstreaming of biodiversity conservation into production landscapes in Grenada.

These include:
a) insufficient systemic and institutional capacity for integrated SLM and biodiversity conservation landscape-level planning;
b) lack of access to financial mechanisms and technical and information services, thereby limiting investment in sustainable agricultural planning and practices; and
c) limited awareness, understanding, and knowledge of CSA and SLM techniques and practices integrated with biodiversity conservation.

The project objective will be achieved through the following four interrelated outcomes:
 

Outcome 1: Systemic and institutional capacity for integrated landscape management at the national level
 

Outcome 2: National capacity to provide financial, technical, and information services for CSA production
 

Outcome 3: Operationalization of resilient agricultural practices
 

Outcome 4: Knowledge management for SLM, CSA, and biodiversity conservation