A CARICOM and UNEP workshop held in Paramaribo, Suriname, trained officials from 17 Caribbean nations in the use of Integrated Environmental Assessments for mainstreaming Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).
The workshop is part of the broader EU project on building capacity related to MEAs among African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries (ACP MEAs project).
7 April 2011: A workshop in Paramaribo, Suriname, trained officials from 17 Caribbean nations in the use of Integrated Environmental Assessments for mainstreaming Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). The workshop took place from 29 March-1 April 2011.
The workshop was organized by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) with support from the Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Integrating Watershed and Costal Areas Management in Small Island Caribbean Developing States (IWCAM) Project. The training is part of a broader project, funded by the European Union (EU), on building capacity related to MEAs among African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations.
Officials from 15 CARICOM nations, Cuba and the Dominican Republic participated in the training, which focused on four MEAs of particular relevance to Caribbean nations: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; and the Protocols on Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) and on Pollution from Land-Based Sources (LBS) of the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region.
Trainers from UNEP and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) asked participants to identify the ecosystems in their nations that these four MEAs help protect, which ones they have in common, and then link those ecosystem services to national development objectives.
The training sought to demonstrate how an integrated policy approach could address national commitments to several MEAs at the same time. [UNEP Press Release] [CARICOM Press Release] [ACP MEAs Website]