The Sustainable Island Resource Management Mechanism (SIRMM) project, which was implemented from 2008 until 2013, sought to ensure the sustainability and maintenance of island ecosystem integrity, health and function through integrated planning and management of island resources. It also sought to strengthen capacities at the systemic, institutional and individual level to enable the implementation of innovative approaches to sustainable land management and resource use among key stakeholder groups. Elements of the project facilitated access to environmental information to the public and promoted public participation. For example, SIRMM included the creation of an Environmental Information Management and Advisory System to serve as a central information hub to ensure access to the information by government agencies, registered NGOs, and interested members of the public. The project also established a Sustainable Island Resource Management Zoning Plan through extensive stakeholder consultation that designated different categories of land and marine resource use with an associated set of activity guidelines and regulations (e.g., defining the specific requirements for EIA) connected to each type of land use. The project also implemented four site-specific pilot projects at environmental hotspots or sensitive areas to implement with communities a sustainable approach to resource management. For example, one demonstration project focused on the rehabilitation of McKinnon’s Pond, where residents in the nearby community were suffering from proximity to and periodic flooding of a contaminated swamp.
As the SIRMM was a GEF-UNDP project, consultants conducted formal assessments and the midterm evaluation can be found at the project’s website.