Saint Lucia

Though less than 616 km² in area, the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia is exceptionally rich in animals and plants. More than 200 species occur nowhere else, including 7 per cent of the resident birds and an incredible 53 per cent of the reptiles.

The nation’s best known species is the gorgeous but endangered Saint Lucia amazon parrot. Other species of conservation concern include the pencil cedar, staghorn coral and Saint Lucia racer. The racer, confined to the 12-hectare Maria Major island, is arguably the world’s most threatened snake following the recent increases in its distant relative on Antigua.

Though Saint Lucia’s rugged, volcanic interior remains thickly forested and healthy coral still abounds offshore, its flatter areas inland have long been cleared for agriculture. The island’s coastal dry forests are increasingly destroyed for tourism development. St Lucia’s biodiversity is also threatened by over 300 alien invasive species (including rapacious mongooses and opossums) and over-exploitation. At least 69 native species have already disappeared.

More than one fifth of Saint Lucia’s 167,000 residents are rated as living in poverty. The Forestry Department is therefore pursuing a policy of integrating livelihoods into the management of the island’s extensive forest resources.

Fauna & Flora International (FFI) first began working on Saint Lucia in 2000, when we assisted the Forestry Department and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust to eradicate alien rats from Praslin Island to conserve the rare Saint Lucia whiptail lizard.

More recently, FFI was commissioned to conduct the most comprehensive surveys to date of the island’s forests and terrestrial flora and fauna, and identify priorities for conservation. In response to a specific request from the Forestry Department, FFI is currently assisting with a project to manage lansan trees in ways that will benefit the trees and some of the poorest members of society.