Cayman’s native plant population at Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park has received a £50,000 boost thanks to grant funding from the UK government to help biodiversity.
The park has been awarded a Darwin Plus Local Grant from the UK’s Biodiversity Challenge Fund that helps to deliver long-term strategic outcomes for biodiversity conservation and climate change resilience within the UK Overseas Territories.
Improved nursery facilities
The successful grant application from the Ministry of Health, Environment and Sustainability aims to deliver strategic improvements to existing nursery facilities at the Botanic Park, enabling its horticultural team to grow a minimum of 250 plants comprising a mix of 10 native species.
The £50,000 grant, equivalent to more than CI$54,000, was approved in late August, and work on seed collection and propagation began last month.
“This exciting project has the potential of transforming the availability, access, sustainability and visibility of these native and endemic species,” explained the ministry’s acting deputy chief officer Hannah Reid. “It will support delivery of the Ministry’s National Tree Planting Programme as out of the initial 250 plants, 100 plants will be reserved for tree plantings as a part of this programme. Over the long term, this project will help the park’s nursery sustain itself in the local market, increasing the availability of native species for use in conservation projects and local landscaping.”
The National Tree Planting Programme launched as part of the Cayman Islands Government’s celebration of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Since then, the initiative has continued to support local biodiversity thanks to partnerships with corporate businesses and community groups and collaborations with public schools.
In its approval letter, the Darwin Plus Local applications team recognised the ministry’s “strong application that clearly articulates the aim to enhance cultivation and planting of native trees and plants in Cayman with realistic targets to grow at least 250 native plants”.
The capacity building and public engagement components of the project were also highlighted as a strength of the project, as well as the relationship between the ministry, its departments, other government agencies and the National Trust for the Cayman Islands.
Reintroducing plants
“This project is an important step toward making more native plants more widely available to the public, reducing reliance on imported species and creating real opportunities to reintroduce these plants into the local landscape,” said John Lawrus, general manager of the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park.
“By restoring native habitats…we not only provide greater value for wildlife but also preserve our cultural identity through the plants that define Cayman and the greater region.”
The news was welcomed by Environment Minister, Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, who said, “This project and the National Tree Planting Programme as a whole, is more than ‘just trees’; it goes to the core of who we are as a people.”
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