The Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF), in partnership with the St. Lucia National Conservation Fund (SLUNCF) and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Conservation Fund (SVGCF), has signed new agreements under the Caribbean Blue Economy Financing (BluEFin) Project to implement and strengthen Digital Payment Systems (DPS) in two of the region’s most significant Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): the Soufrière Marine Management Area (SMMA) in Saint Lucia and the Tobago Cays Marine Park (TCMP) in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
The DPS is an innovative sustainable financing mechanism that enables electronic fee collection for access to MPAs, allowing visitors to pay entrance fees, mooring fees, and other marine services digitally. By modernizing or complementing traditional cash-based systems, the DPS enhances transparency, improves fee collection efficiency, strengthens financial oversight, and ensures that revenues are securely channeled toward marine conservation and sustainable management.
The Soufrière Marine Management Area (SMMA) and the Tobago Cays Marine Park (TCMP) are critical sites for biodiversity conservation, fisheries, tourism, and coastal resilience, and the introduction and strengthening of DPS will improve operational management while creating more reliable and traceable revenue streams. This contributes directly to the long-term financial sustainability of these protected areas and the communities that depend on them.
These agreements mark an important step in advancing the BluEFin Project’s objective to scale innovative ocean financing solutions that protect marine ecosystems while enabling sustainable Blue Economy opportunities across the Caribbean.
The Caribbean BluEFin Project is financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), implemented through the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and executed by the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF), with co-financing from the German Development Bank (KfW) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the French Development Agency (AFD), the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM), and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ).
