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Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies

Research Projects

CERMES SocMon

SocMon Project logo
Socio-economic Monitoring for Coastal Management (SocMon) is a global initiative of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA-Marine), Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The initiative is being implemented at the global and regional levels with the goal of establishing socio-economic coastal and marine monitoring programmes globally at the site level. See the SocMon website at www.socmon.org for detailed information.

SocMon is a globally networked, regionally adapted, practical methodology of socio-economic monitoring for coastal management. Globally, six regions are successfully conducting SocMon - the Caribbean, Central America, Pacific Islands, South Asia, South East Asia and the Western Indian Ocean. It should be noted that in the Pacific Islands the methodology is referred to as SEM-Pasifika. SocMon works through regional and local partners to facilitate community-based socio-economic monitoring.

The Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus is the regional SocMon node for the English-speaking Caribbean. Since the inauguration of the SocMon Caribbean methodology in 2003, CERMES has implemented a number of grant funded SocMon projects. These projects have been primarily funded by the United Nations Environmental Programme-Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP-CEP), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Programme and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). In addition to grant funded projects, graduate students of The University of the West Indies have conducted MSc research using the SocMon Caribbean methodology.

SocMon has been implemented in 12 countries in the region at 23 study areas, 16 of which have been Marine Protected Area (MPA) sites and seven coastal community sites, particularly fishing villages. Goals and objectives for monitoring are usually tailored to each site’s needs and have focused on a variety of socio-economic aspects of these sites including:
 
  • Baseline data collection on coastal communities
  • Informing fisheries and MPA management planning and management
  • Promoting the use of socio-economic data in fisheries and MPA management
  • Building socio-economic profiles of fisheries
  • Enhancing management capacity of stakeholders
Just over 300 Caribbean MPA and fisheries management personnel, staff, stakeholders and community members have been trained in this participatory monitoring methodology since 2003.

SocMon Project Sites Map
SocMon project countries in the Caribbean

Recently implemented SocMon Caribbean projects include: For further information contact:

Maria Pena
CERMES Project Assistant/Regional SocMon Coordinator – Caribbean
maria.pena@cavehill.uwi.edu
Phone: (246) 417-4727

Patrick McConney
Senior Lecturer – Marine Resource Management Planning/SocMon Caribbean Technical Advisor
patrick.mcconney@gmail.com
Phone: (246) 417-4725
Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies
Telephone: (246) 417-4316 Email: cermes@cavehill.uwi.edu