GEF CreW - Caribbean Regional Fund for Wastewater Management - UNEP/IADB/GEF Partnership Project

Background

The degradation of the Caribbean marine environment including through the discharge of untreated wastewater is a serious concern for those countries whose livelihoods depend heavily on their natural marine resources. Numerous scientific studies, including UNEP/GPA’s 2006 report on the State of the Marine Environment, singled out untreated wastewater entering the world’s oceans and seas as the most serious problem contributing to marine pollution. In the region, the recent Caribbean Sea Ecosystem Assessment (CARSEA) study similarly found that “sewage pollution from land sources and from ships has been the most pervasive form of contamination of the coastal environment.”

Scientists have identified a number of serious consequences of marine pollution caused by untreated wastewater. In 2001, UNEP/GPA concluded that pathogenic organisms in waters contaminated by wastewater discharges cause “massive transmissions of infectious diseases to bathers and consumers of raw and undercooked shellfish”; researchers estimated the global impact at US$10 billion per year. GESAMP scientists concurred that infection of seafood and shellfish occurs through the disposal of urban/domestic wastewater. They also advised that “there is massive epidemiological evidence that enteric and respiratory diseases can be caused by bathing/swimming at marine coastal beaches contaminated [through] exposure to pollution from domestic wastewater sources.” Discharge of untreated wastewater has other impacts as well. The CARSEA study found that sewage was one of the main factors that had caused some 80 percent of living coral in the Caribbean to be lost over the past twenty years.

Damage by untreated wastewater to the marine environment including living coral can bring about severe economic consequences for people in the Caribbean. The CARSEA study found that “the Caribbean is the region in the world most dependent on tourism for jobs and income,” while “fishing is also a significant source of both income and subsistence.” Yet both of these sectors are directly threatened by environmental degradation including due to wastewater discharge.

HOW THE PROJECT SEEKS TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES

In response to the above mentioned situation, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) are proposing to establish a Caribbean Regional Fund for Wastewater Management (CReW).

Overall, the CReW project would be composed of four components:

1. A flexible and innovative investment and financing mechanism, including:
1. a project implementation facility to finance wastewater projects;
2. a project development facility (PDF) window that would provide technical assistance to project sponsors to help bring projects to “bankable” status; and
3. a monitoring and evaluation subcomponent that would generate and analyze the information necessary to measure the performance of the CReW towards achieving its global objectives.
2. A policy reform component in support of improved wastewater management that is consistent with the GPA Strategic Action Plan Guidelines on Municipal Waste Water Management, including institutional and legal strengthening and capacity building to ensure technology transfer, targeting specifically innovative and low cost wastewater management technologies that provide communities with effective and locally manageable wastewater treatment and disposal at an affordable cost. This component would also promote public awareness and information exchange for improved wastewater management.
3. A component that would permit regional dialogue, linkages, coordination, communications and liaison between CReW staff, counterpart agencies, implementing partners, related programs (e.g., in integrated water resources management), and relevant Caribbean stakeholders including the private sector.
4. A project management component, under which a governance structure would be established as the primary coordination mechanism for launching and implementing the CReW.

The CReW would serve as a pilot project to demonstrate the viability in the region of an innovative fund approach to developing and financing wastewater projects, and engendering relevant policy reforms.

For more information please contact:

Mr. Christopher Corbin

rcu@cep.unep.org