Blue Growth through Green Restoration: Cartagena Regional Seas Convention Capacity Building Workshop on Seagrass Ecosystem Restoration

The Cartagena Convention Secretariat will participate in and support a regional capacity-building workshop on seagrass ecosystem restoration in the Dominican Republic, organized in the framework of the project Blue Growth through Green Restoration: Cartagena Regional Seas Convention Capacity Building on Seagrass Ecosystem Restoration. The activity is implemented by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (United Kingdom) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic, in collaboration with the UNEP Cartagena Convention Secretariat.

The workshop builds on the outcomes of a previous regional training held in Jamaica in February 2026 and aims to advance technical discussions and stakeholder engagement on the development of regional guidance for seagrass restoration in the Wider Caribbean Region. It will bring together national experts, practitioners, government representatives, and local stakeholders to provide feedback on draft guidance, strengthen approaches for monitoring and assessing restoration effectiveness, and explore linkages with ecosystem services, coastal resilience, fisheries benefits, and blue economy opportunities such as blue carbon initiatives.

The programme will include technical sessions in Santo Domingo as well as a field-based component in La Playita (Samaná) to facilitate practical exchanges on restoration techniques, monitoring considerations, and the active participation of local communities in conservation and restoration actions. The activity will contribute to strengthening regional cooperation, enhancing technical capacity in Small Island Developing States, and promoting alignment with the objectives of the Cartagena Convention and its SPAW Protocol, supporting the scaling up of ecosystem restoration efforts across the region.