Related External Links

• The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
• The University of the West Indies
• The Sustainable Development Network
  
• The Environmental Management Authority
• Caribbean Community Secretariat
• The United Nations Environment Programme
• The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute
• 2006 Public Lecture on the Environment
• 2007 Public Lecture on the Environment
• 2010 Public Lecture on the Environment

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CARIBBEAN SEA ASSESSMENT FOLLOW UP

The Caribbean Sea. Immediately, the many difficulties of delineation and definition are apparent. This oceanic space is shared by 38 countries and territories from South and Central America and the Caribbean itself. The United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France also have interest and influence in this area in which some territories lie within their power.

With The University of the West Indies providing significant intellectual leadership, the Foundation, along with other partners, undertook the follow-up work of the assessment of the Caribbean Sea by capitalizing on opportunities to make interventions. Issues that impact upon tourism-based and fishing activities pose some of the greatest threats to this region.

Unlike some other environmental challenges which seem remote and may be perceived as irrelevant as a result, threats to these waters are quickly seen and felt by the people whose lives and livelihoods are most closely connected to it. They may not be aware of a measurable extent or wider implications of what they are experiencing, but a fishing community knows its livelihood is in danger without being told by scientists or analysts.

In 2005, the Foundation initiated a followup project to the Caribbean Sea Assessment, “Outreach and Capacity Building: Towards Sustainable Management of the Caribbean Sea”. The long-term goal involves influencing policy, governance and international co-operation for management and use of the Caribbean Sea in ways that might sustain its integrity and functioning as an ecosystem, and secur its benefits for people’s economic and social wellbeing.

CARSEA’s special and on-going challenge is to identify, interrogate and, ultimately, advise on a great many matters of the governance and management of a shared space within the context of sustainable development. The overall aim of the followup initiatives is to influence the creation of policies that encourage first, regional cooperation, and then international cooperation. We do this through collaboration with the Caribbean Sea Commission, set up as a result of the Caribbean Sea Assessment by the Association of Caribbean States. We humans like to set boundaries but nature doesn’t respond to our boundaries. Fish don’t care about what is yours and what is mine. Pollution doesn’t care, climate change doesn’t care. The challenge is that we must all come together to find a solution to manage common resources.

• CARSEA Follow-up proposal
• Research Agenda Seminar
• CARSEA/GEO Consultation
• Photo Gallery: CARSEA/GEO Consultation

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