CARINET aims to:

•Establish and sustain within the CARIFORUM sub-region, realistic self-reliance in taxonomy with an initial emphasis on arthropods, nematodes, microorganisms, non-vascular and vascular plants.

 
•Support national and sub-regional programmes for sustainable agricultural development. The sustainable use of our biodiversity and the conservation of the environment.

•Assist CARIFORUM Member Governments to meet their commitments to "Agenda 21 of UNCED", and their obligations as signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

•Serve as an effective enabling facility under-pinning the broader interventions needed to assist CARIFORUM Member Governments to achieve full implementation of the policies of the CBD Convention.

•Provide CARIFORUM and individual Member Governments, and international organizations, NGOs, IGOs and donors with biological programmes within the sub-region, with the best possible advice on biosystematic matters, and the best possible biosystematic services in support of these programmes.