The 12th issue of UNEP's AMEP Quarterly highlights recent developments regarding Caribbean projects on environmental assessment and management, wastewater management, waste management, oil spill response planning, and climate change and disaster management.
22 December 2011: The 12th issue of AMEP Quarterly highlights projects and activities implemented by the Assessment and Management of Environmental Pollution (AMEP) sub-programme of UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Kingston, Jamaica-based Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit (CAR/CRU), including several funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) on topics such as AMEP, wastewater management, waste management, oil spill response planning, and climate change and disaster management.
Regarding GEF projects, the Quarterly reports on: the completion of the Integrating Watershed and Coastal Areas Management (IWCAM) pilot projects; the IWCAM final project conference held in November 2011, in Kingston; and plans to submit to GEF during first quarter 2012 a proposal concept (PIF) for a follow-up project to IWCAM. The Quarterly also reports on the completion of the GEF Reducing Pesticides Run-off to the Caribbean Sea (REPCar) project, the finalization of ARGOS, REPCar’s coastal monitoring programme database, and a PIF to be submitted to GEF in early 2012 on “Improved Management of Agrochemicals Life Cycles in the Caribbean Region and Central American Region.” In addition, the publication discusses the launch in 2012 of the new GEF-funded Caribbean Regional Fund for Wastewater Management Project (CReW), which will focus on piloting revolving financing mechanisms and wastewater management reform in the Wider Caribbean Region.
On other issues, the Quarterly notes: the creation of an AMEP working group; the convening of a Regional Experts Workshop in September 2011, in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and the launch of a Regional Laboratory Capacity Database; the development of a Marine Litter Activity Guide in early 2012; technical and financial support to the Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia and Suriname for their National Programmes of Action (NPA) projects on marine protection from land-based activities; and a project on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR) launched in Jamaica, which included a training workshop on risk and vulnerability assessment methodology, held 5-8 December 2011, in Jamaica. [Publication: AMEP Quarterly, Oct.-Dec. 2011] [IISD RS Story on AMEP Experts Workshop] [IISD RS Story on IWCAM Final Project Conference]