IT is no secret that over 80 per cent of the Caribbean Sea is polluted by land-based sources and activities such as deforestation, untreated wastewater, oil spills, agricultural runoff, farm waste, and litter. This affects livelihoods, people’s health, island economies, and ecosystems.

To address these problems, pollution experts from across the region recently met and recommended a raft of measures which they hope will stem the tide of pollution.

The recommendations put forward by the United Nations Environment Programme’s Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP CEP), Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM), and the Government of Curacao include:

* Continuing to host the regional activity centre in Curacao that supports the Protocol Concerning Cooperation in Combating Oil Spills in the Wider Caribbean Region (Oil Spills Protocol);

* Promote the integration of oil spill disaster planning into national disaster planning processes by working with regional disaster agencies such as CDEMA;

* Work with Oil Spill Regional Centre to provide technical support to countries affected by oil pollution, including dispersants and rehabilitating areas contaminated with oil;

* Develop stronger partnerships with the GPNM to improve nutrient management within the Wider Caribbean Region

* Develop activities which will enhance the implementation of the LBS Protocol with specific reference to ship-generated waste, air pollution and pre-treatment of industrial effluent found in domestic wastewater.

The agreements were hammered out at two recently convened technical meetings — the seventh steering committee meeting for the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Information and Training Centre for the Wider Caribbean for the Oil Spills Protocol, in Curacao from May 20-21; and the second meeting of the Scientific, Technical and Advisory Committee to the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities hosted by UNEP CEP in Nicaragua from June 10-14.

The recommendations will be presented to the 13th meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Wider Caribbean Region, which will be held in Cartagena, Colombia.

Christopher Corbin, programme officer for the Assessment and Management of Environmental Pollution at UNEP CEP noted that the meetings were critical to evaluating the status of pollution in the region and to identifying future priorities.

Regional coordinator for UNEP CEP Nelson Andrade Colmenares stressed that with continued stakeholder engagement the trend of pollution can be reversed, allowing the region to prosper for generations to come.