Caribbean political, business leaders meet on Branson’s private island to discuss conservation

KINGSTON, Jamaica - In a bid to safeguard biodiversity and the Caribbean's tourism-based economy, regional political leaders and corporate executives will gather Friday on billionaire Richard Branson's private island with the aim of protecting 20 per cent of the region's coastal resources by 2020.
Participants are expected to announce various commitments to advance the "Caribbean Challenge," an initiative that is touted as the first comprehensive conservation endeavour in the region of scattered islands that has 10 per cent of the world's coral reefs and some 1,400 species of fish and marine mammals.
To safeguard the Caribbean's future, Branson says politics and business-as-usual will have to change. The adventuring CEO and founder of the Virgin Group of companies is co-hosting the meeting of political and business leaders at Necker Island, his home in the British Virgin Islands where he has developed an ultra-exclusive eco-resort that showcases renewable energy technology and reintroduced flamingoes.