SPAW - Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife
The Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW Protocol) was adopted in 1990, and entered into force in 2000. The SPAW Protocol seeks to “Take the necessary measures to protect, preserve and manage in a sustainable way … a) areas that require protection to safeguard their special value, and b) threatened or endangered species of flora and fauna”.
The objectives of the SPAW Programme are to assist Governments in meeting the provisions of the Protocol and to:
- Significantly increase the number, and improve the management of, national protected areas in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR), including support to national and regional conservation management strategies and plans.
- Support the conservation of threatened and endangered species and sustainable use of natural resources to prevent them from becoming threatened or endangered;
- Develop strong regional capability for the co-ordination of information exchange, training and assistance, in support of national biodiversity conservation efforts;
- Coordinate activities, and develop synergies, with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), as well as other biodiversity-related treaties and initiatives, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Convention on Wetlands/Ramsar Convention, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)/Bonn Convention, the Western Hemisphere Conventions, the Interamerican Convention for the Conservation of Sea Turtles (IAC), the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) and the Western Hemisphere Migratory Species Initiative (WHMSI).
The four programme elements being implemented to achieve these objectives are:
The implementation of the SPAW Programme can be followed through:
