News

Pilot: Solid Waste Reduction Project in Bluefields & Whitehouse, Westmoreland, Jamaica Solid Waste Reduction Project

The Caribbean is home to more than 700 islands and coastal countries that are connected by a shared resource - the Caribbean Sea.  This Sea forms the lifeblood of the region’s tourism, maritime and fisheries industries.   However, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, valuable coastal and marine resources are under increasing threat from land and marine-based sources of pollution.

On September 21, 2019, several groups around the world rallied together to take part in beach cleanups in celebration of International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day.

“The Caribbean is the second most plastic-contaminated sea in the world after the Mediterranean Sea.  Estimations of the volume of plastic waste in this area range from 600 to 1,414 plastic items per square kilometer in different locations.” - Report on Status of Styrofoam and Plastic Bag Bans in the Wider Caribbean, UNEP – Caribbean Environment Programme, May 2019

Kingston, Jamaica. July 25, 2019. The Cartagena Convention Secretariat, based in Kingston, Jamaica, is pleased to announce that on June 29, 2019 the Government of Barbados acceded to its Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBS).

Kingston, Jamaica. 17th June 2019. From 3rd - 6th June 2019, over 80 regional and international experts including government officials, non-governmental organizations, development partners and United Nations (UN) agencies met in Honduras to review the achievements of the Cartagena Convention Secretariat over the last two years (2017-2018) and to agree on priorities for the 2019-2020 biennium.

“Our world is swamped by harmful plastic waste. Microplastics in the seas now outnumber stars in our galaxy. From remote islands to the Artic, nowhere is untouched. If present trends continue, by 2050, our oceans will have more plastic than fish. The message is simple: reject single use plastic. Refuse what you can't reuse. Together, we can chart a path to a cleaner, greener world.” - António Guterres United Nations Secretary General (World Environment Day 2018)

Regional Experts look forward to finding solutions for common challenges in the Wider Caribbean Region Kingston, Jamaica.

Perceptions When people all over the world think of the Caribbean, turquoise seas, clean beaches, coral reefs teeming with a variety of fish, turtles and other sea creatures, balmy breezes …come to mind.

On Friday May 10, 2019 the Mount Airy Community Football Field in Northern Clarendon welcomed scores of residents from communities in the area to the launch of the UN Human Security Joint Programme and Community Fair.

On Tuesday May 7, staff members of the Secretariat to the Cartagena Convention and the UN Environment Caribbean Sub-Regional Office (CSRO) joined members of the public and private sector in Jamaica in taking part in the annual Read Across Jamaica Day activity. This year, UN Environment-CEP staff read to students in Grades 2MF and 5 at St. Anne’s Primary School in Downtown, Kingston.

The Global Environment Facility-funded Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (GEF IWEco) Project’s Third Regional Project Steering Committee Meeting (RPSC 3) will take place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from 2nd – 4th April 2019.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, March 21st, 2019 – The Environmental Health and Sustainable Development (EHSD) Department of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), based in Saint Lucia, operates at the nexus between health and the environment. With this mandate, water security (including quantity and quality) is central to CARPHA’s support of its 26 Member States.

The session, set to begin Wednesday 13th of March 2019, will explore work on marine litter and microplastics across the world through the 18 Regional Seas Programmes. An overview of current work will be presented along with an assessment of different region’s action plans on marine litter. Audience will have the chance to interact with representatives from different Regional Seas Programmes.

Haiti’s Canal De La Gonave is a unique marine ecosystem, with two underwater canyons that drop to over 10,000 feet.  This marine ecosystem is threatened by several factors:  pollution (e.g. marine debris), non-native species invasions (e.g.

Many species of marine mammals, including small cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), are maintained in captivity (including both tanks and sea-pens) for the stated purposes of entertainment, research or education, and in some cases military use. In recent years, the ethics of capturing and maintaining marine mammals in captivity have increasingly come into question.

BELIZE CITY, BELIZE, WEDNESDAY, 23 January 2019 (CRFM)—The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) has initiated a regional fact-finding study to document the record-breaking influx of Sargassum seaweed in the Caribbean Sea in 2018, and the impacts this phenomenon has been having on countries in the region since 2011.

The Cleaner and More Efficient Fuels and Vehicles Conference for the Caribbean will bring CARICOM countries together at the Knutsford Court Hotel on the 5th and 6th of December 2018 to discuss how to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs in the transport sector.

Honduras has become the 26th Country to ratify the Cartagena Convention

Key decisions related to work of the Secretariat to the Cartagena Convention for the 2019-2020 biennium are expected to be formulated in Roatan, Honduras when delegates meet from June 3-7, 2019.

Ministers encouraged to include and develop environmentally and financially sustainable partnerships Tourism, Fisheries and Agriculture are the leading industries contributing to the economic growth of many Caribbean islands. The social, economic and environmental development of the islands depend on these industries, most of them tied intricately to the environment.

Joint measures to reduce the pollution through assessment and improved management