Clear Water Challenge 2009
Furthermore, a trust fund will be set up, which will provide structural funds for the daily management of these areas, as well as for the scientific research necessary for the sustainable usage of the Islands natural resources, to the benefit of all future generations.
The golden thread through this years Clear Water Challenge will be a monumental Kayak challenge, taken on by Ryan de Jongh who will leave St. Maarten on November 1st to cross a distance of 1500 kilometers through Caribbean waters, to arrive at his homeport around three weeks later.
A kayak challenge for nature; a challenge for the survival of the biodiversity of Ryan’s home; a home he, and many with him, consider a FORGOTTEN PARADISE!
Ryan's Challenges over the years:
- Kayak from Playa Kalki (Westpoint) to Sea Aquarium Curacao (19 hours, 1998)
- Biking 500 km for Korsou500 (30 hours, 1999)
- Extreme Triathlon (27 hours, 2000)
- Kayak Bonaire – Curacao (13 hours, 2000)
- Kayak Curacao – Aruba (22 hours, 2001)
- Running & walking 150 km on Aruba (23 hours, 2002)
- Kayak 150 km around Curacao for Carmabi (33 hours, 2007)
- Kayak 40 km, mountain biking 20 km, hiking 40 km for Carmabi (2008)
- Kayak 1509 km (estimated time, 22 days) St. Maarten – Curacao
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Rationale
Curaçao is an oceanic Island with a surface area of 444 square kilometers, located along the southern edge of the Caribbean plate. Its geological history dates back some 87 million years, which makes it much older than the islands of the volcanic island arc of the lesser Antilles. This fact, combined with its position within a semi-arid climate zone, produced a unique island ecology within the Caribbean, supporting a range of endemic species and sub-species, which means that those species are found nowhere else in the world.A significant subset of the unique diversity of the Island has been encapsulated within the Christoffelpark. This park encompasses 2300 hectares of relatively untouched hillsides, including the 375 meters high Christoffel mountain, the highest point of the Island. Historical artifacts from pre-Columbian and colonial times are also part of the heritage found within the park, including Indian rock drawings and the former plantation complex of Savonet, one of the oldest and most complete and authentic plantation complexes remaining on the Island, also unique within the Caribbean cultural and historical context.
The park is managed by the CARMABI Foundation, a 55 year old non-profit ecological research and management organization with the aim to protect the natural environment and to assist in sustainable development of the Island. The park itself is owned by the local government, as are some of the surrounding areas. The park is the center-piece of a bigger area, covering most grounds in the western part of the Island, which currently is designated as a conservation area by law. However, this designation does not provide a sufficiently stable protection scheme, because of the fact that development pressures are mounting. Furthermore, currently the park is only directly connected to the northern marine shores with its sargassum fields. No protected and managed areas connect the park to the south coast, along which valuable coral reefs are located. The map below shows the spatial context.
In order to reinforce the regional scientific knowledge base, Carmabi also aims to implement an improved knowledge centre both in order to attract more visiting scientists to the Island as well as to do scientific research specifically tailored to local and regional nature management issues. This centre will provide the visiting scientists and students with the necessary scientific infrastructure, like a laboratory but also dorms and a full equipped library with all necessary publications, to carry out their projects efficiently. Curaçao has ideal characteristics for such a scheme: good connections from the Americas and Europe make it easy to get there, the Island is politically stable and safe, and most importantly: the ecosystems the scientists are most interested in, the coral reefs and related coastal systems, are (still) in good shape, which cannot be said of most Islands in the Caribbean. Curaçao is the perfect “natural laboratory” at which the scientific community can learn about the “ins and outs” of “hot” topics like the effects of climate change, but also about the medicinal properties of marine organisms!
The funding to build improved premises, the new “Carmabi scientific club house”, has already been secured, an amount of 2 million guilders, provided by Dutch development funds. The structural funding for the scientific staff and maintenance personnel should come out of income generated through the scientist, but most importantly through (structural) funding provided by the private sector. The Carmabi knowledge centre will develop into “the place to be in the Caribbean” at which applied biological sciences and “green” corporate sponsorship can and will go hand in hand.