News

In the lead up to the United Nations Ocean Conference, held from 27th June to 1st July 2022 in Portugal, Acting Coordinator of the Secretariat Mr. Christopher Corbin was interviewed by UN News on the importance and role of the Convention in addressing pressing environmental issues in the Wider Caribbean. The full interview is below.

Press Release

Bridging Land and Sea, Mangrove forests are magnificent and prolific ecosystems which contribute to the wellbeing, food security, and protection of coastal communities worldwide. In the Mesoamerican Reef Region (MAR) and the Wider Caribbean, Mangroves are the economic foundation of over 134 million people living in the coastal regions.

Kingston, Jamaica. 5th November 2021.

Kingston, Jamaica.

Summary of the Cartagena Convention’s recent intergovernmental meetings  

Kingston, Jamaica, 30th July 2021: The Nineteenth Intergovernmental Meeting on the Action Plan for the Caribbean Environment Programme and Sixteenth Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region began on Wednesday 28th July 2021 with a welcome by Ms.

Summary of the SPAW COP Opening Ceremony Kingston, Jamaica, 28th July 2021:  The Eleventh Meeting of the Contracting Parties (COP 11) to the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) in the Wider Caribbean Region began on Tuesday 27th July

Summary of the LBS COP Opening Ceremony Kingston, Jamaica, 27th July 2021:  The Fifth Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities (the LBS Protocol) began on Monday 26th July 2021 with a welcome b

Kingston, Jamaica. 23rd July 2021. Governments of the Wider Caribbean will next week reaffirm their commitment to the protection and sustainable use of the marine and coastal resources of the Caribbean Sea. This takes place within the framework of the Conferences of Parties to the Cartagena Convention, the only regional legally binding agreement for the protection and development of the Caribbean Sea.

We have lost half of the world’s coral reefs and are consuming nearly one-third of our commercial fish stocks at unsustainable rates. In 2021 the United Nations General Assembly’s UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) as well as the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) have begun, emphasizing the urgency of restoring oceans and coasts by reducing the pressure on these ecosystems so they can recover.

“The Wider Caribbean Region is experiencing unequivocal impacts of nutrient pollution including nitrogen-based eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, hypoxia and those resulting from a complex and not fully understood phenomenon of recurrent nuisance Sargassum blooms.

Protecting marine mammals is essentially everyone’s responsibility - whether you are a user or simply a beneficiary of marine resources, each person is an actor in environmental conservation. For some persons, their love of marine mammals originated from as far back as they can remember and protecting these creatures feels like second nature. For others, these creatures are a wonderful and vibrant mystery, to be explored, protected and loved.

Key decisions related to work of the Secretariat to the Cartagena Convention for the 2021-2022 biennium are expected to be formulated when delegates meet from June 21-25, 2021 and July 26-30, 2021.

Today, on World Oceans Day 2021, the Secretariat launched the second edition of its marine mammal campaign on its social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). This public education initiative aims to raise awareness on the threats to marine mammals, particularly those listed under our SPAW Protocol and encourage individual and collective action to protect these species.

On 12th May 2021, the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) in collaboration with the Secretariat’s Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) Sub-Programme and the SPAW Regional Activity Centre, hosted a webinar on fisheries subsidies and their effects on sustainable fishing.

Ocean pollution from poorly managed sanitation is a global health and environmental issue with massive downstream consequences for coastal communities and marine ecosystems New SNAPP project, “Improving human and coastal ecosystem health through better wastewater pollution management”, jumpstarts

In an effort to strengthen the response of Caribbean countries to address the environmental concerns they face and enhance their capacities to fully engage in Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) implementation, the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Cartagena Convention, along with the Food and Agriculture Organization  of the United Nations (FAO) are jointly implementing a 5-year programme (2020-2024)

World Oceans Day on June 8 celebrates the underwater world whose abundant marine resources sustain the land above it. Some of these resources and ecosystems, such as the overlooked seagrass, mighty mangroves, and colourful corals offer potent, nature-based solutions to climate change and sustainable development.

Diseases passed from animals to humans are on the rise, as the world continues to see unprecedented destruction of wild habitats by human activity. Scientists suggest that degraded habitats may encourage more rapid evolutionary processes and diversification of diseases, as pathogens spread easily to livestock and humans.

On the eve of a critical year for environmental decision-making, Colombia, Germany and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today announced that Colombia will host World Environment Day 2020 in partnership with Germany and that it will focus on biodiversity.

The MoU was signed in September 2019 in keeping with recommendations and decisions emanating from the 8th SPAW STAC (STAC8) held in Panama (December 2018), and 15th COP to the Cartagena Convention (COP15) held in Honduras (Jun

Barbados will host the Intercessional Forum for Ministers of Environment from Latin America and the Caribbean, from Tuesday, November 5, until Wednesday November 6. President of the Forum of Ministers of Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean, Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Trevor Prescod, will chair the meeting, which takes place at Hilton Barbados, Needhams Point, St. Michael.

Head of the Caribbean Sub-Regional Office, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Vincent Sweeney, says the organisation fully endorses the Rae Town Plastic Recycling Pilot Project, in Kingston, being implemented as a viable option to improve and diversify the country’s solid waste management programme.

The 1st International Conference on Sargassum was successfully hosted in Guadeloupe. The event which took place from October 23-26, 2019 brought together stakeholders from the Caribbean and other countries of the world to discuss the issue of sargassum.