From The Voiceslu

Land based pollution from untreated sewage, garbage and chemicals from agriculture account for 80- 85% of marine pollution in the Caribbean Sea and pose a serious threat to Caribbean livelihoods, health and environmental sustainability. To tackle this serious problem, twenty-two (22) Caribbean experts met to identify strategies and launch the Caribbean Platform for Nutrient Management at the meeting for the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management. The meeting, was organized by the United Nations Environment Programme’s Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit (UNEP CAR/RCU), in association with UNEP’s Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA), the Global Environment Facility funded Caribbean Regional Fund for Wastewater Management Project (GEF CReW) and the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA). The meeting focused specifically on excess nutrient run-off and provided several recommendations to set the agenda for a Caribbean Platform for Nutrient Management and to promote actions for sustainable nutrient management across the region.

Mr. Nelson Andrade Colmenares, Regional Coordinator for the UNEP CAR/RCU indicated that this meeting was timely as nutrients from land based sources are a major source of pollution in the Wider Caribbean Region and it was time that stakeholders took action to reduce negative environmental impacts.

Mr.AnjanDatta, the Senior Programme Officer of UNEP’s Global Programme of Action (GPA), reported that “food security of two-thirds of the world’s population depends on the availability and use of nutrients in the form of fertilizers”. These nutrients, which eventually end up in the seas, can cause eutrophication leading to adverse impacts including the collapse of fisheries and shellfish poisoning.

Marine pollution from nutrient run-off brings negative consequences for people of the Wider Caribbean Region who depend heavily on the resources of the Caribbean Sea for their livelihoods, recreation, food and economic development.

The Global Partnership on Nutrient Management was developed under the leadership of UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) to enhance the capacity of stakeholders to design and implement effective nutrient management policies. It is a part of the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBS Protocol) that several countries in the region have signed. Controlling nutrient run-off is in fact essential to the successful implementation of the LBS Protocol which is the main framework through which the GPA operates within the region. Since 1995, UNEP CAR/RCU has been collaborating with the UNEP GPA to implement and develop National Programmes of Action for the protection of the marine environment from land-based activities, in several countries of the Wider Caribbean. UNEP CAR/RCU remains committed to the management of nutrients, so that the people of the Wider Caribbean Region can enjoy the sea for generations.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.thevoiceslu.com/features/2013/september/05_09_13/Caribbean.htm