Protecting our Caribbean Sea & Securing our Future
Overview
UN Environment established the Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP) in 1981 as one of its Regional Seas Programmes in recognition of the importance and value of the Wider Caribbean Region’s fragile and vulnerable coastal and marine ecosystems including endemic plants and animals.
Countries of the region then adopted an Action Plan also in 1981 that led to the development and adoption of the Cartagena Convention on 24 March 1983.
The Cartagena Convention is the first and only regionally binding treaty of its kind. It promotes the protection and development of the marine environment of the Region and provides the legal framework for the Caribbean Environment Programme.
It is supported by three technical agreements or protocols on oil spills, specially protected areas and wildlife and land-based sources of marine pollution.
The Caribbean Regional Co-ordinating Unit (CAR/RCU) was established in 1986 in Kingston, Jamaica and is the Secretariat for the Cartagena Convention and the Caribbean Environment Programme.
Our projects and activities take place under three programme areas:
- Assessment and Management of Environment Pollution (AMEP)
- Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW)
- Communication, Education, Training and Awareness (CETA)
Our Latest Highlights
- CEP Regional Seas for the Caribbean Briefing Sheet
- Contracting Parties to the Cartagena Convention and its two Protocols on Marine Biodiversity and Pollution met recently in French Guiana to set a new agenda for Caribbean Sea Protection.
- Caribbean sharks receive increased protection following a Dutch proposal at the recently concluded Intergovernmental Meeting for our Marine Biodiversity or SPAW Protocol.
- Our GEF funded project on domestic wastewater - CReW has published several new case studies and experience notes.
- Regional Governments approve our Work Plan and Budget for 2017-2018 and adopt six decisions to guide our programme moving forward.
