Our Project Sponsor
The Island Environmental Programme of the Preservation Society has been
initiated through a programme award of the United Kingdom’s Foreign and
Commonwealth Office. Within that organization is the United Kingdom
Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF) which exists to promote
the coordinated conservation of the diverse and increasingly threatened plant
and animal species and natural habitats of the UK Territories Overseas. It
aims to do this by providing assistance in the form of expertise, information
and liaison between non-governmental organisations and governments, both
in the UK and in the Territories themselves.
One critical component supporting activities in the Overseas Territories is
OTEP, the Overseas Territories Environment Programme. This is a joint
programme of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department
for International Development to support the implementation of the
Environment Charters and environmental management more generally in the
UK Overseas Territories. You can find a brochure about the program by
clicking here.
In 1999 the UK Government issued the Overseas Territories White Paper
‘Partnership for Progress and Prosperity.’ This recognised that responsibility
for environmental issues in the Overseas Territories rested with the local
governments, but that the UK Government had responsibility to support
these local efforts. This concept was embodied in the Environment Charters;
the BVI’s Charterwas signed by the then UK Minister for the Overseas
Territories and by the then Chief Minister Ralph T. O’Neal on 26 September
2001. The Charter includes guiding principles and a set of mutual
commitments by
the UK Government and the Government of the British Virgin Islands in
respect of integrating environmental conservation into all sectors of policy
planning and implementation.
Jost van Dyke Environment Information Centre
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