CEPNEWS
NEWSLETTER OF THE UNEP CARIBBEAN ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME
Vol. 15, No. 4, Last Quarter 2000
Internet:
Inside this issue:
Editorial:...... 2
CEP Programme Updates...... 4
Marine Protected Areas Corner...... 8
CAR/RCU Staff Updates...... 14
News Briefs...... 15
Education and Training...... 23
Publications Available...... 27
Internet Briefs...... 28
Employment Opportunities ……………………………………………………………..28
Upcoming Events...... 29
EDITORIAL
The Caribbean Environment Programme:
20 years Serving the Wider Caribbean Region
At the beginning of this new millennium CEP marks its 20th anniversary! In 1981 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, after a planning period of many years, 22 countries adopted the Action Plan for the Caribbean Environment Programme bringing CEP to life. The Governments of the Wider Caribbean, UNEP and a number of UN and non-UN partner organisations debated quite a while on what this programme should be all about and how this programme should function.
CEP had quite an active youth, learning and consulting with all parties involved in its upbringing. So active that after two years, in 1983, CEP adopted its well thought-out legal framework in the form of the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena Convention), accompanied by a Protocol to combat oil spill emergencies, at the time a major environmental priority for the region. Still today, the only legally binding environmental treaty for the Wider Caribbean is the Cartagena Convention. Infants are usually dependent for their development. The young CEP was no exception as it depended on the support of so many. UNEP was the main source of support for the early years as customary with its Regional Seas Programmes until they become self-dependent. The Caribbean Trust Fund was established shortly after the establishment of CEP by the member Governments, which together with the support from partner organisations, other governments and donors, have allowed the CEP to keep growing. In 1986, the Regional Co-ordinating Unit (CAR/RCU) was established in Kingston, Jamaica, to co-ordinate the Programme and provide the Secretariat for the Cartagena Convention.
Came the adolescent CEP, strong and independent, producing two additional protocols, concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) in 1990 and Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBS) in 1999. In 1997 Governments recognised that CEP’s development needed to focus in major areas to address the provisions of the Convention and priorities for the region. In this way four major areas of work were developed: SPAW, AMEP, CEPNET and ETA sub-programmes to support the Convention and its Protocols. But those were also difficult years. Preparations for the Earth Summit coupled with the economic problems in many countries, affected the participation of governments in the Programme and its further development. The RCU’s direction was for a while unstable and UNEP was restructuring its course and organisation. The CEP had a few stormy years but rapidly recovered under strong leadership by UNEP and the Parties.
By 2000, the SPAW Protocol entered into force. Overseeing, supervising, responsibilities…adulthood was about to come. But what is adulthood? Wisdom? Perfection? Complete knowledge? Certainly not. On the contrary, the responsible adult recognises that it is not alone, that one cannot be independent in the real world. The responsible adult looks for connections, exchanges and a way to share. He becomes inter-dependent. He works at developing fruitful relationships that will allow him to keep on broadening his perspectives while giving him the opportunities to grow and to expand his adolescent initiatives.
CEP will have to improve its analytical capacities to better help others doing the same. With the proper tools and the right message, CEP must be a responsible adult, recognised for its accomplishments and known for its strong capacities. A big challenge! But there is time; adulthood is the longest period of life, after all.
What lies ahead for CEP’s birthday? 2001 will be a big year. The First Meeting of the Interim Scientific, Technical and Advisory Committee (ISTAC) to the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities in the Wider Caribbean will be held from 19 to 23 February in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Then, the 13th Meeting of the Monitoring Committee on the Action Plan for the CEP and a Special Meeting of the Bureau of Contracting Parties to the Cartagena Convention (MonCom) is planned for 25-29 June in San José, Costa Rica. And possibly, the First Meeting of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) to the SPAW Protocol and First Meeting of the Parties to the SPAW Protocol are planned with a tentative date and venue of 24-29 September in Havana, Cuba.
In this issue of CEPnews, the reader will also be able to judge from the Programme Updates that many more activities are being implemented this year. Finally, as a responsible adult CEP must be able to plan ahead, to forecast what is to come. Many challenges will have to be faced, many of them bringing many development opportunities.
Amongst them:
- the still-to-come Convention for the North East Pacific, which will include some member countries of the CEP. This should bring collaboration opportunities, transfer of experience and other opportunities;
- the creation of a RAC for the LBS Protocol;
- the need for co-ordination with the global/regional assessments and reporting initiatives like the Global Programme of Action (GPA), the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) or the Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA);
- development of Internet-based decision-making tools such as: clearing-house, GIS and remote sensing data on-line, more networking, regional and global discussion forum.
To prepare itself for these new challenges and to improve its role of facilitator, CEP will work hard this year at improving its communication tools. Readers can expect changes in the CEPnews format (frequency, languages, distribution mode, etc.) and more information content in its web site. It is hoped that these tools will be more open to your inputs and even more useful to assist you in your tasks and responsibilities. But still a long, and hopefully, happy way to wisdom!
The CEP Programme Officers
CEP PROGRAMME UPDATES
AMEP Update
The AMEP Programme ended 2000 and began 2001 with a flurry of activity in several areas.
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Project on Reducing Pesticide Run-off to the Caribbean Sea concluded four National level workshops in each of the four participating countries (Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua). Each of the workshops generated significant interest from diverse audiences including the private sector and non-governmental organisations. The conclusions of these workshops and the four national reports that were subsequently completed were the base of a regional report on Pesticide Management and regional recommendations to improve management with the ultimate goal of reducing pesticide run-off. The planning process undertaken in this project will greatly assist the four countries to begin compliance with Annex IV (Agricultural Non-point Source Pollution) to the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-based Sources and Activities. From 24-25 January 2001, in Panama City, AMEP convened a sub-regional workshop in partnership with the EARTH College of Costa Rica and the four countries involved in the project. The workshop confirmed that we would submit a proposal to GEF centered on six components including: Training and Education; Institutional Strengthening; Establishing Incentives; Monitoring and Information Systems; Alternative Technologies; and Demonstration Projects. The specific activities associated with these components will be submitted as part of a GEF Project Brief (proposal) to the GEF Secretariat in early March.
From 6-9 February 2001, AMEP is also convening a regional workshop on Integrating Management of Watersheds and of Coastal Areas in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean as one of the highlights for the CEP Sub-programme on Assessment and Management of Environmental Pollution (AMEP) this quarter. This is the second CEP activity to be developed with funds from the GEF and is being executed in partnership with the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI). This project is being implemented in all 13 SIDS of the Wider Caribbean. At the February workshop, the second of three to be convened under this project, each of the 13 countries will be presenting a draft national report on the topic of Integrating Management of Watershed and Coastal areas. Other experts as well as the participating countries will critique the reports. In addition, we will present a regional synthesis of the national reports that makes recommendations based on the common themes.
Finally, from 19-23 February 2001, CEP will convene the First Meeting of the Interim Scientific, Technical and Advisory Committee (ISTAC) to support the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-based Sources and Activities (LBS Protocol). The meeting will review current AMEP activities in support of the LBS Protocol as well as a draft workplan and budget for 2002-2003. In conjunction with the ISTAC we will jointly convene a workshop with UNEP Coordination Office on the Global Programme of Action (GPA) on municipal wastewater. The combined portion of the meeting will include not only the AMEP/LBS focal points, but also municipal officials from the Wider Caribbean and representatives from the Ministries of Finance. CEP and the GPA Coordination Office hope that this more diverse audience and resulting recommendations, will assist both the GPA and LBS Protocol to further advance national plans to protect the Wider Caribbean Region from the negative impacts of sewage pollution.
For more information, please contact:
Timothy Kasten
Senior Programme Officer
UNEP-CAR/RCU
14-20 Port Royal Street
Kingston, Jamaica
Tel: (876) 922-9267
Fax: (876) 922-9292
E-mail:
SPAW Update
Since the last update in the last issue of CEPNEWS, the following activities have been advanced within the SPAW Sub-programme by UNEP-CAR/RCU:
Efforts continue for the reactivation of the network of marine protected area (MPA) managers in the Wider Caribbean - CaMPAM: Discussions have been initiated among interested MPA managers and partner organizations to identify the best approaches to better serve the network and its members. A steering committee of active and interested members may be established to assist in the process. Please give us your ideas and contributions to this effort!
The Small Grants Fund for CaMPAM is operational since June 2000 and very few proposals have been received. Visit our web site Activities
if you need additional information and would like to apply for assistance for your MPA.
The Secretariat is setting up a moderated e-group for the Parties of SPAW with the purpose of efficient dissemination of information regarding the work in progress on the Protocol. Non-parties and relevant partner organizations might be included in the e-group as observers to receive the benefit of being updated on a continuous basis on SPAW matters.
In keeping with the existing memorandum of Co-operation with the Convention to the Ramsar Secretariat, a joint SPAW/Ramsar training workshopwas organized by the Rmasar Bureau and held in Trinidad, 11-15 December 2000 in which UNEP-CAR/RCU made a presentation on the Cartagena Convention, the Protocol concerning Pollution from Land-based Sources and Activities (LBS) and SPAW Protocols and their relationship to Ramsar. Additionally participants were briefed on the obligations and benefits to the Parties of the SPAW Protocol (see News Briefs below for further information).
With the entry into force of the SPAW Protocol in June 2000, Parties and the Secretariat are discussing the possibility of having the First Meeting of SPAW’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), as well as the First Meeting of Parties to SPAW in the second half of 2001, in Havana, Cuba following the offer of this government to serve as host. Parties are currently being consulted before a final decision is made.
The SPAW Programme supported the first National Caribbean Sea Turtle and Beachfront Lighting Workshop, held the 13th of October, 2000 in Barbados. The Workshop was a success; well attended and with stimulating information given to the participants, and also passed a useful resolution concerning beachfront lighting (see News Brief below).
In order to start the work toward the preparation of the national and sub-regional coral reef status reports for 2002, additional sub-regional monitoring nodes under the framework of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) are being planned, and monitoring efforts increased. In this context, discussion have been started with relevant initiatives such as those of Reef Check and the Caribbean Planning Adaptation for Climate Change (CPACC) project which includes a coral reef monitoring component.
For more information, please contact:
Alessandra Vanzella-Khouri
Programme Officer
UNEP-CAR/RCU
14-20 Port Royal Street
Kingston, Jamaica
Tel: (876) 922-9267
Fax: (876) 922-9292
E-mail:
CEPNET Update
As announced in the last CEPnews, CEPNET has had a new Programme Officer since November 2000, Luc St-Pierre. Now that he knows his way around a little bit more, the workplan of CEPNET for 2001-2001 has to be seriously tackled. This includes:
- Strengthening the CAR/RCU analytical capacities. CEPNET has an internal role within the Secretariat of CEP, to develop and maintain its computing network and support the information management needs of the different sub-programmes and of the administrative system. Equipment upgrades and an on-going internal training programme are being planned.
- Supporting the information dissemination and networking tools of the CEP. CEPNET is now working at optimising its reduced resources to take advantage of the Internet tools and improve its reach in the WCR. It is expected that the CEP web site will be developed in terms of database content, clearing-house links, dynamic e-groups, etc. This CEPnews will be more linked to the web site. Its format might be simplified because of the reduced resources available, but CEPNET will work hard at providing useful and up-to-date information in the three official languages of the CEP.
- Co-ordinating with international agencies (regional or global) working in the region. CEPNET is now developing relationships with various organisations, trying to become a more attractive regional window or node to many of them. For this, CEPNET will participate in the “Caribbean Observations in a Global Context- Technical Meeting” to be held in Barbados from 28 February to 2 March. In addition, various technical proposals are being drafted with agencies competent in GIS, remote sensing, clearing-house mechanisms, etc.
- Revitalise the CEPNET/IDB project that ended in 1999. One priority of CEPNET is to find resources to provide a sustainable follow-up for the six countries involved, and to take advantage of the results and knowledge developed to increase the number of participants and broaden the themes and tools used.
In summary, CEPNET is building on its past successes but at the same time tries to develop new capacities to become a stronger partner in the region, both to international organisations and to participating governments to the CEP. Efforts are being put to get resources that will help get quick and attractive results.
For more information, please contact:
Luc St. Pierre
Programme Officer
UNEP-CAR/RCU
14-20 Port Royal Street
Kingston, Jamaica
Tel: (876) 922-9267
Fax: (876) 922-9292
E-mail:
MARINE PROTECTED AREAS CORNER
Coral reefs will be gone in 20 years, scientists say
(adapted from Associated Press, October 23, 2000)
That’s the warning coming from scientists at the 9th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) held in October 2000 on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Addressing 1,500 delegates from 52 countries, researchers reported that more than a quarter of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed by pollution and global warming. They warned that unless urgent measures are taken, most of the remaining reefs could be dead in 20 years.
In some of the worst hit areas, such as the Maldives and Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, up to 90 percent of the coral reefs have been killed over the past two years due to rises in water temperature. Coral reefs play a crucial role as an anchor for most marine ecosystems, and their loss would place thousands of species of fish and other marine life at the risk of extinction.
Researchers warned that governments must urgently reverse global warming trends, cut pollution and crackdown on overfishing. Leading Australian scientist Clive Wilkinson reports that in some areas fishermen use dynamite or cyanide to catch fish, blowing the reefs apart or poisoning them. In other areas, governments pump untreated sewage and other waste directly into oceans.