In accordance with the notice issued in Cayman Islands Gazette supplement Extraordinary No. 47/2016 on 17th June, 2016, Nominations for Protected Areas under the National Conservation Law may be submitted to the National Conservation Council between 1st August and 31st October 2016.
The Council will assess all nominations only after closure of the nominations period. The process for making nominations is available at https://doe.ky/laws/national-conservation-law/nominations-for-protection/
In accordance with Section 8 of the National Conservation Law, Council advises that nominations should only be for areas which are predominately natural habitat. The purposes, objectives and criteria to be satisfied under section 8 are provided below.
Council reminds nominators that under Section 9 of the Law, in event a nomination is made for land in private ownership, the landowner will be notified, and the nomination cannot proceed without the landowner’s agreement.
Section 8 – National Conservation Law
8. (1) A protected area shall have one or more of the following purposes or objectives-
(a) to conserve, maintain and restore habitats and their associated ecological systems critical to the survival and recovery of species which are endangered, threatened, endemic or migratory species or of special concern for any other reason;
(b) to conserve, maintain and restore examples of representative or unique ecological systems and their physical environment of adequate size to ensure their long-term viability and to maintain biological and genetic diversity;
(c) to conserve, maintain and restore the productivity of ecological systems and natural resources that provide economic or social benefits or are important for the protection and maintenance of life-support systems, including air and water and other ecological processes;
(d) to facilitate the regeneration of wildlife in areas of special concern;
(e) to conserve, maintain and restore areas of special biological, scientific, recreational, archaeological, ecological, cultural, educational or aesthetic value, including areas of special concern and areas whose ecological or biological processes are beneficial to the functioning of the ecosystems of the Wider Caribbean; and
(f) to encourage ecologically sound and appropriate use, understanding and enjoyment of the area.
(2) In addition to meeting one or more purposes and objectives in subsection (1), the selection of a protected area shall be based on a consideration of the following criteria-
(a) naturalness; (b) biological diversity; (c) ecological importance; (d) biogeographic importance; (e) scientific importance; (f) international, regional or national significance;
(g) the practical feasibility of protection and management; and (h) potential for nature tourism.