Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean (CLiC): Making conservation “clic” both personally and professionally!

Duration of the panel: 1 hour (possibly 1 hour 20 minutes)

Introduction by Nadra Nathai-Gyan, CLiC Board Director.

Broad intro of what is CLiC and how this Program has connected people from the wider Caribbean Region working in a diverse set of conservation issues.

Panel structure: Five fellows from CLiC (3 from Trinidad, 1 from Colombia and 1 from Guyana)

Facilitated by Joaquin de la Torre, IFAW’s Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract:

Biodiversity conservation in the Wider-Caribbean has been stymied by a lack of real-world biodiversity conservation capacity building opportunities. The goal of this symposium is to bring together current Fellows and alumni of the Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean (CLiC) Fellowship Program to deconstruct how their professional lives have been affected by this interdisciplinary, capacity-development, experiential, mentoring training program. The symposium aims to facilitate participant’s active engagement in deepening their understanding of value of such programs that support the acquisition of foundational skills across a suite of proficiencies needed by contemporary conservation leaders, and which are largely lacking at the region’s existing institutions offering coursework/training in the conservation sciences. 

Overall the panel aims to:

·       Create a space for young conservation professionals and emerging Caribbean scholars in conservation to describe the value and application of their training received in this regional interdisciplinary capacity building program.

·       Enrich our understanding of needs of early career environmentalists through the lens of this Caribbean experience.

·       Identify what other opportunities exist for advancing the proficiencies of emerging conservation professionals beyond the existing traditional academic training programs available to them.

Through a facilitated conversation, the Fellows will share a brief overview of their CLiC Fellowships and how this Program has provided them with key learning experiences, that helped them not only in the implementation of conservation projects, but also facilitated broader advancements personally and professionally.