Mark Yokoyama leads a writing workshop during the 2017 Birds Caribbean conference in Cuba.
Hundreds of bird specialists from the Caribbean and beyond attend the Birds Caribbean International Conference.
MARIGOT–Birds Caribbean holds its international conference on Caribbean birds and their habitats every two years. The meeting is the largest of its kind, attracting hundreds of delegates from the region and beyond. This year, it will be held in Guadeloupe from July 25-29. St. Martin will be represented by Jenn Yerkes, Mark Yokoyama and William Allanic of the Les Fruits de Mer association.
Yerkes will be delivering two presentations: “Jumbie Trees and Spirit Birds: Connecting Cultural and Natural Heritage to Engage the Public” and “Helping People Engage with Nature After a Natural Disaster”. Both presentations will highlight work done in St. Martin in the last two years.
Yokoyama will be leading a workshop on working with local media.
Allanic will be attending as a youth delegate.
Birds Caribbean is the largest conservation group in the region. Its members come from non-profit organisations, forestry departments and universities all over the region. They do research, save wild spaces and share the magic of birds and nature all over the Caribbean. At the conference, more than 200 members will gather in one place to share the latest in research and more.
Les Fruits de Mer has been a partner of Birds Caribbean since 2013. The association became the first institutional member of Birds Caribbean in the entire French Caribbean in 2015. Les Fruits de Mer members have presented at international Birds Caribbean conferences in 2013, 2015 and 2017.
The conference is important because it is the one time people working in bird science, conservation and education all over the Caribbean come together to learn and share. Training workshops teach skills like how to do a bird survey. New research and techniques for helping birds are shared. Les Fruits de Mer members will bring knowhow back to St. Martin where it can be used to raise awareness, improve nature education and protect valuable habitats.
This year’s conference is “Keeping Caribbean Birds Aloft” (or “An nou poté mannèv pou zozio karayib volé” in Créole). In keeping with the theme, the conference will feature many ways to help birds in the Caribbean.
“Our birds face many challenges, and we want to address them,” noted Birds Caribbean Executive Director Lisa Sorensen. “We will work on how to protect birds from threats like plastic pollution or habitat destruction. We are also working to promote birds for their value as a tourism attraction and the benefits they provide to people.”
You can learn more about the conference at
http://birdscaribbean.org/bc2019/, including keynote speakers, workshop themes and field trips. Registration is open now.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/89407-les-fruits-de-mer-to-present-at-international-birds-conference
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