Central American States have adopted a number of regional environmental agreements designed to facilitate the implementation of global MEAs and to address regional environmental priorities. Central American treaties include those on:
- Conservation of Biodiversity and Protection of Priority Wild Areas in Central America;
- Regional Convention on Climate Change;
- Regional Agreement on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes; and
- Convention on the Management and Conservation of Natural Ecosystems, Forests, and the Development of Tree Farms.
All Central American States have signed and ratified these agreements.
As a result of these regional agreements, the Central American Commission on Environment and Development (known by its Spanish acronym CCAD) has created Technical Committees that include representatives of each Central American State. These Committees meet periodically to ensure ongoing compliance with the agreements.
The advantage of these regional agreements is that they complement the international agreements, there are many synergies with the respective MEAs since the CCAD Technical Committees (and Focal Points) are the same for monitoring and compliance of the corresponding regional agreement and MEAs. The Executive Secretariat of CCAD coordinates meetings, agendas, and regional positions to the regional and international environmental forums. This enables Central American States to participate in COPs as a regional group, rather than as isolated countries.
For more information, see http://www.ccad.ws or contact CCAD at magonzalez@sgsica.org, rrodríguez@sgsica.org, and snieto@sgsica.org; also see the case study on “Regional Guidance on Implementing MEAs in Central America.”