includes an action plan that outlines needed environmental 

 projects (e.g. , watershed management, oil spill contingency 

 planning, public awareness campaigns, environmental impact 

 assessment, and protection and recovery of endangered species) 

 and a convention to provide a framework for agreement among 

 contracting parties to cooperate in protecting and managing the 

 regional marine environment. 



As noted in the Commission's previous Annual Report, the 

 Action Plan for the Caribbean Environment Program was developed 

 and approved in 1981. The Cartagena Convention, which provides a 

 complementary legal framework for the Action Plan, was concluded 

 in 1983 and entered into force in 1986. Sixteen nations have 

 ratified or acceded to the Convention and its Protocol on com- 

 bating oil spills. At the end of 1989, 35 states and territories 

 were participating in the Caribbean Environment Program. 



The Convention calls for cooperation in controlling marine 

 pollution from ships, from land-based and atmospheric sources, 

 from man-made structures at sea, and from activities involving 

 exploration and exploitation of the seabed; protecting and 

 preserving rare and fragile ecosystems and the habitat of 

 depleted, threatened, and endangered species; responding to 

 emergencies caused by pollution; assessing the potential impacts 

 of proposed activities on the environment and notifying any 

 nation that could be affected by such impacts; and cooperating in 

 scientific and technical matters, especially in exchange of data 

 that may be pertinent to the objectives of the Convention. 



The Convention also provides for concluding detailed agree- 

 ments or protocols, as needs arise, to implement or augment it. 

 To date, only one Protocol has been adopted. It provides for 

 cooperation among parties in responding to oil spill emergencies. 



Article 10 of the Convention calls upon contracting parties 

 to "take all appropriate measures to protect and preserve rare or 

 fragile ecosystems, as well as the habitat of depleted, 

 threatened, and endangered species" by establishing protected 

 areas. When the Convention was concluded in March 1983, a 

 resolution was adopted calling upon the Parties to adopt a 

 protocol to provide protection for special areas and wildlife in 

 the wider Caribbean region. The resolution encouraged "competent 

 governmental and non-governmental organizations to prepare 

 proposals for submission to the first meeting of the contracting 

 parties after entry into force of the Convention." 



The first meeting of contracting parties was held jointly 

 with the Fourth Intergovernmental Meeting of the Action Plan for 

 the Caribbean Environment Program in Guadeloupe on 2 6-28 October 

 1987. Prior to the meeting, a coalition of non-governmental 

 organizations, including Monitor International, the Center for 

 Environmental Education (now the Center for Marine Conservation) , 



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