Introduction to WIDECAST

The Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST) is an international scientific network comprised of volunteer Country Coordinators (mainly sea turtle experts, natural resource professionals, and community-based conservationists), an international Board of Scientific Advisors, and Partner Organizations in more than 30 Caribbean States and territories. Each Coordinator works closely with a national coalition of stakeholders, including biologists, conservationists, resource managers, resource users, policy-makers, educators and others, to ensure that everyone has access to the dialogue, as well as to the unique products and services of the network.

WIDECAST was founded in 1981 by Monitor International, in response to decisions arising from a meeting convened jointly by the Caribbean Conservation Association (CCA) and World Conservation Union (IUCN) non-governmental organizations in the Caribbean region. The meeting, entitled Meeting of Non-Governmental Caribbean Organizations on Living Resources Conservation for Sustainable Development in the Wider Caribbean (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 26-29 August 1981), recommended that a “Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan should be prepared ... consistent with the Action Plan for the [UNEP] Caribbean Environment Programme [CEP].”

Visit the WIDECAST website for more information.