The Caribbean Action Plan

The Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena Convention) is the authority providing the legal framework for the Caribbean Environment Program (the CEP). The CEP was established to provide a mechanism whereby the diverse states and territories of the region could collectively address the protection and development of the marine and coastal resources of the Wider Caribbean, the base for the economic development of the region.

After some early difficulties, the CEP is working efficiently and has had great success in obtaining donor funding of much of the CEP Action Plan. The CEP is now viewed as one of the more successful UN Regional Seas Programs. This is evidenced by, inter alia; the recent establishment of Regional Activity Centers for Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife on the island of Guadeloupe and the Marine Pollution Emergency, Information and Training Center for the Wider Caribbean Region in the Netherlands Antilles, and the steady progress of ratification of the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife, which has now entered into force. The CEP action plan contains programs of direct and indirect benefit to all countries and territories in the Wider Caribbean region, including the United States and its territories.

On October 6, 1999, the United States signed a new protocol to the Cartagena Convention to Eliminate or Reduce Pollution of the Caribbean Marine Environment from Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBS Protocol). The U.S. co-hosted (with State and EPA funding) the diplomatic conference at which the Protocol was adopted and chaired the substantive negotiations, brokering compromises on key issues. The LBS Protocol contains binding obligations to control pollution from specific source categories and activities and establishes regional effluent limitations for domestic sewage, a pervasive and serious marine pollutant in the Caribbean region. No other regional agreement has taken such a science-based approach or contains such specific obligations. As such, the LBS Protocol is expected to set a new standard for regional agreements on this subject.

Adoption of the LBS protocol marked the successful conclusion of several years of preparatory negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), in which the U.S. played the lead role from beginning to end. The U.S. placed a high priority on the negotiation of an effective LBS agreement because an estimated 70-90 percent of pollution entering the marine environment emanates from land-based sources and activities. Such pollution is a major contributor to the degradation of coral reefs and the loss of biodiversity, and it endangers public health, recreation and tourism throughout the Wider Caribbean region. Other regions have adopted agreements aimed at addressing land based pollution sources but they have achieved only limited success. The LBS Protocol differs markedly from these other regional agreements in its conceptual approach and the specificity of its obligations.

The Protocol contains four legally binding annexes. The first two annexes contain a list of priority source categories and activities, which cause marine pollution and factors to be considered in controlling and managing such pollution. A third annex addresses domestic sewage, a pervasive and serious land-based marine pollutant. The fourth annex addresses agricultural non-point source pollution, the second most prevalent and serious land-based source of marine pollution in the region.