Blues get grant of over half million euros

(CNS): The Blue Iguana Recovery Programme (BIRP) has been given a $646,000 (€550,000) by the European Union to help with the goal of returning a viable population of the critically endangered species to the wild. According to government information services, the grant from the EU was brokered through the Cabinet Office and made to the National Trust’s blue iguana project as part of a regional EU programme to help countries sustainably manage their protected areas. EU Representative Marlene Lamonth, who toured the blue iguana captive breeding site during the EU delegation’s visit earlier this month, met with BIRP Director, Fred Burton, to discuss key aspects of the project.

“The grant focuses on developing sustainable and low-impact tourism products that can be combined with education,” she said. “During our visit we aimed to meet with those who will execute the project to talk about how they will achieve agreed project goals. We especially focused on what should be done in the first year of implementation."

The iguana relocation project took off last year after the previous administration committed to protecting almost 200 acres of Crown land in Grand Cayman’s eastern interior, via a 99-year peppercorn lease to the National Trust.

“Securing the grant is the culmination of much hard work, and we are excited to start work on the project,” said the Cabinet Office’s Christina Rowlandson.

Currently located in the Botanic Park, the entire iguana breeding programme will eventually be relocated to the leased area. And according to Burton, plans also include building an interactive visitor centre and trail system.