THE sea-protecting work of the Regional Coordinating Unit (RCU) of the United Nations Environment Programme in Jamaica received a boost Monday when the agreement governing its operations was extended from two to five years.

Under the revised contract, which was signed by Minister of Local Government and Environment Dean Peart and coordinator for the unit, Nelson Andrade Colmenares at the ministry’s Half-Way-Tree Road offices Monday, the RCU will be entitled to rent-free accommodation, but will pay all maintenance costs for the office space it occupies at the Jamaica Conference Centre for the next five years.

Minister Peart said he was proud with the terms of the new agreement.

“You have been here since 1985 and we have a good relationship. This headquarters is the headquarters for the Caribbean and we’re proud to offer this facility to you now…We’re hoping that after the five years, we’ll have another five years. We feel that you’ve been doing a good job in the Caribbean,” he said.

In the meanwhile, Colmenares, who, in his capacity as unit coordinator also has responsibility for the Regional Seas Programme – a programme which is jointly managed by the International Seabed Authority – expressed pleasure at the new agreement and stressed the importance of the Caribbean Sea’s reef system to the region.

“According to Burke and Maidens, in 2000, the Caribbean coral reefs had an estimated value of [between] US$3.1 [and] 4.6 billion. Data from the year 2000 also suggest that the annual net benefits of maximum fish production totalled some US$312 million. Again in 2000, the annual net benefits from dive tourism was US$2.1 billion,” he said.

He also noted that roughly 1.5 million people across the region depended on fishing for their livelihood while fish exports from the region totalled US$1.2 billion in the year 2000.

“People believe that everything comes to them for granted… [but] If we don’t stop pollution, then we’re not going to have coral reefs, if we don’t have coral reefs, then we don’t have fish, if we don’t have fish, then we don’t have food. If we don’t have coral reefs, then the diving industry is dead and then the tourist [industry] is also dead because if we don’t protect coral reefs then we won’t have some beaches.