• Protocol Concerning Co-operation in Combating Oil Spills in the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena de Indias, 1983);
• The Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife in the Wider Caribbean Region (Kingston, 1990); and
• The Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-based Sources and Activities in the Wider Caribbean Region (Oranjestad, 1999).

The status of ratification on this page is based upon information provided by the Depository of the Cartagena Convention and its protocols in Colombia.

• The Cartagena Convention
• The Oil Spills Protocol
• The SPAW Protocol
• The LBS Protocol

For clarification of terms please refer to The Fine Print.

The majority of the signatories to the Convention signed the document at its adoption in Cartagena in March of 1983. Ratification by the signatories ocurred in the following years. The only signatories not yet to ratify the Convention include Honduras, Nicaragua and the European Economic Commission (now called the European Union). A number of other nations which did not sign the Convention have acceded to it, as provided by Article 27 of the Convention. Upon receipt of the ninth ratification, the Convention entered into force as described in Article 28 of the Convention, on 11 October 1986.


Notes:

* France signed with reserve.
** Ratified on behalf of the Netherlands Antilles Federation on 16 April 1984, and for Aruba as of 1 January 1986.
*** Ratified on behalf of the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands on 28 February 1986, reserving the right to extend it at a future date to include other territories. On 21 November 1987, it was extended to the British Virgin Islands

Note from the Secretariat:
The other Territories of the United Kingdom participating in the Caribbean Environment Programme are Anguilla and Montserrat.

With the exception of the E.E.C. (E.U.), all states simultaneously signed the Oil Spills Protocol with the Convention. In almost all cases the Oil Spills Protocol was ratified or acceded to by a state at the same time as that state ratified or acceded to the Convention. The Oil Spills Protocol entered into force simultaneously with the Convention on 11 October 1986.

The SPAW Protocol has yet to enter into force as of the date of this page (see below). It awaits ratification by two more signatories to reach the nine signatory ratifications necessary for its entry into force as required by Article 27 of the SPAW Protocol.

The LBS Protocol was opened for signature on 6 October 1999 in Oranjestad, Aruba.  The LBS Protocol will be open for signature in Bogotá, Colombia until 7 October 2000.

Last Updated: