Description

Queen conch is a highly appreciated seafood delicacy with important non-food uses, including therapeutical products and handicrafts. While global demand is booming, small-scale coastal producers in the Eastern Caribbean do not fully seize the opportunities offered by sustainable conch markets. In 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) joined forces to design a pilot project to test the application of the revised UNCTAD BioTrade1 Principles and Criteria (2020)2 to the marine environment, focusing on the queen conch value chain in the countries of Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In the preparation of case studies on the queen conch value chains in beneficiary countries and working towards the development of a Blue BioTrade Action Plan for the OECS, UNCTAD has worked to produce a map of stakeholders in the queen conch value chain in the three participating countries and an initial scoping of opportunities and challenges that will be further explored to improve environmental and economic outcomes.