Progress report for
Commitment between the Secretariats of the Caribbean Environment Programme and the OSPAR Commission to explore opportunities for inter-regional cooperation
Achievement at a glance
Cooperation between OSPAR and the Cartagena Convention in fulfilment of SDG14 #OceanAction17198 includes management of marine protected areas, marine litter and nutrient pollution for enhanced ocean governance.<br>Several outputs were produced as a result of the collaboration:
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<br> Manual for Harmonizing Marine Litter Monitoring in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) (2019) (through OSPAR-CEP & GPML-Caribe collaboration) aims to assess leading initiatives and provide recommendations for policymakers and experts in the WCR.
<br> Professional exchanges related to building capacities for marine litter monitoring, marine protected areas and databases which include compilation of lessons learned, best practises and recommendations from other projects were also useful. 1) Special Session at the GCFI Conference on Marine Protected Areas and Management and Science; 2) Expert workshop on Harmonizing Marine Litter Monitoring
<br> Development of project proposal on MPA management capacity-building
<br> Evaluation and recommendations for the Caribbean Marine protected Area Management Network and Forum (CaMPAM)
<br> Integration between the two sub-programmes, Pollution and Marine Biodiversity facilitated greater collaboration
<br> Website development and factsheets produced for information and outreach on the related areas
Challenges faced in implementation
In relation to efforts geared towards harmonized marine litter monitoring, the challenge has been that there are significant distinctions between the methodologies employed across the region. One particular type of marine litter monitoring methodology serves to inform policymakers about progress on policy measures in the respective region, the other initiatives have as primary aim to raise awareness, engage with citizens and corporations, and to inform policymakers.<br>
<br>There are also differences in the capacity and governance of the initiatives and implementation of best practices for OSPAR.
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<br>Regarding the methodology, there are differences in location selection, frequency, items on the field forms and in people who perform the surveys. These aspects have consequences on the type of analyses that can be made from the data gathered.
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<br>Other challenges included differences in scope and the insufficient capacity among Small Island Developing States and the difficulty in relation to resource mobilization.
Beneficiaries
Wider Caribbean Region