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Within the biodiversity hotspot of the West Indies, Guadeloupe presents a remarkable plant biodiversity. The strong urbanization along its rivers leads to the alarming degradation of their banks through artificialization and proliferation of invasive alien species.Since 2015, the "PROTEGER" project, led by the Guadeloupe National Park and involving INRAE and the University of the West Indies, and funded by the European Union and the French Biodiversity Agency, has been promoting and developing the use of native species and copying natural models to restore riparian ecosystems using soil bioengineering techniques. The first phase of the project (2016-2018) characterized 12 types of Guadeloupe's riparian forests and identified 80 native species potentially suitable for riparian restoration. The second phase of the project (2019-2022) focused on the control of the multiplication of 26 of these species, and their use on bank protection and restoration sites. An experiment on cuttings was conducted on 21 native species (9 tree 4 shrub species; and 8 herbaceous species), another on the germination and growth of seedlings of 5 species of tree legumes. The first soil water bioengineering demonstration projects was implemented along a riverbank through a training course. The third phase to come aims to disseminate the knowledge to local stakeholders and the development of a local economic sector of nurseries and specialized companies.This project allows the improvement of scientific knowledge of Guadeloupean riparian environments and the development of innovative techniques for the restoration and protection of these environments using local plant species. This project associates managers and researchers in a global approach for the development of a sustainable sector of ecological engineering on the Guadeloupean territory.

In the actual context of global change and biodiversity depletion, soil bioengineering represents an important tool for riparian ecosystem restoration and species conservation. Various techniques have already been implemented, but their adaptation still must be carried out in Caribbean Islands biodiversity hotspots, where suitable species remains unknown. Nitrogen-fixing legumes are particularly relevant for ecological restoration and the diversity of native Caribbean legume trees is promising in the search for suitable species for soil bioengineering. We hypothesized that Caribbean legume tree species present a growth performance and set of biotechnical traits compatible with their use in soil bioengineering. We selected five native legume trees, adapted to riparian environments, in different ecosystems (swamp forest, evergreen seasonal forest, rainforest) based on their ecology, resistance to disturbance and seed production characteristics. We measured root traits relevant for soil bioengineering on nursery grown 3-month-old seedlings. Despite their differences in sensitivity to herbivory and in growth strategies, the selected species have a high potential for use in soil bioengineering, with high seed production, high germination rates—from 88 to 100%—, and 100% survival rates, and are therefore compatible with large scale plant material production. We provided practical guidance tools for their integration into soil bioengineering techniques.

Long-term, robust coral reef monitoring coupled with strategic reporting are essential drivers for ecosystem-based management and regional policy processes. Since the restructuring of the Caribbean component of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) in August 2014, the GCRMN-Caribbean has been bolstering its presence and regional acknowledgement as a dynamic network. An expert steering committee and members-at-large have enabled the network to achieve substantial progress. GCRMN-Caribbean bio-physical guidelines have been improved and tested at several sites; communication and experience sharing have increased considerably; capacity building actions have been implemented for coral reef practitioners with a special focus on MPA managers; and there has been collaboration with major Caribbean programmes. This paper reports on the progress of the GCRMN-Caribbean in 2017: the development of socio-economic guidelines for an integrated monitoring approach, the implementation of building capacity projects “for coral reef and human dimensions monitoring within the Wider Caribbean", within a workshop-based training program to increase regional capacity for integrated bio-physical and socio-economic monitoring. Besides its achievements for the year, this paper also reports on GCRMN-Caribbean network challenges and next steps, including development of a standardized data analysis and reporting in 2018 and participation in the International Year of the Reef.