Kingston, 2nd February, 2011. Today, as World Wetlands Day raised awareness on the importance of wetlands as natural barriers protecting the ocean from sedimentation and pollution coming from the land, UNEP’s Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP-CEP) launched the Wider Caribbean LBS Protocol Collage competition. This competition invites school children throughout the region to illustrate how to protect the Caribbean Sea from land-based sources of pollution, in keeping with the theme: “A Future that is Pollution Free – Join Hands to protect our Caribbean Sea”.

The Protocol concerning pollution from land-based sources and activities, known as the LBS Protocol, was adopted in 1999 by the governments of the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) in response to the need to protect the fragile Caribbean Sea from human activities. Considered by many to be the most significant agreement of its kind, it establishes regional effluent limitations for domestic water discharges and requires national plans to address non-point sources of pollution such as agricultural runoff. The region had to wait for 11 years, however, to see the entry of the LBS Protocol into force, when the Government of the Bahamas became the ninth country to ratify the Protocol in 2010, thus establishing the basis for the Protocol to become international law.

Pollution and littering has become a more significant problem in Antigua and Barbuda over the past years. This problem has escalated as the government has expressed the inability to continue funding the cleaning of a number of the beaches. Beyond the issue of the litter being unsightly, it also causes problems within our coastal ecosystems. For years environmental enthusiasts have espoused the concern that plastic bags floating into the sea have confused turtles, causing them to believe that they are jellyfish. This already rare species then eat the plastic bags and inevitably perish.
The Environment Division, in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is therefore launching a collage competition within the schools, for children 12 to 18 years who are a part of a class, organisation or club, in order to bring awareness to this pressing issue. The theme “A Future that is Pollution Free – Join Hands to Protect our Caribbean Sea”, focuses on our beautiful Caribbean Sea, and how we can protect its fragile, vulnerable coastal and marine ecosystems from land-based sources of pollution.

Please visit the Environment Cadets page to view all updates!

Read about the exciting programmes that the Environment Division, along with many stakeholders, have devised for the 2009/2010 academic year.

Contact us if you would like to participate in any of our programmes at 460-7278. We look forward to hearing from you.

Environment Cadets, "working together for a better future"!

Panos Caribbean

The article below is a production distributed through Panoscope, a series of Panos Caribbean. It is made freely available to your media and we encourage publishing and redistribution, giving credit to Panos Caribbean. We appreciate feedback.

For further information contact: Indi Mclymont/Jan Voordouw, Panos Caribbean.

Tel: 920-0070-1

E-mail: jamaica@panoscaribbean.org

PANOS CARIBBEAN’S REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF MEDIA & ENVIRONMENT RECEIVES U.S. HEALTH FELLOWSHIP

August 25, 2009: Kingston (Panos) Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, Regional Director of Media and Environment at Panos Caribbean, has been selected to participate in the U.S. Department of State-sponsored International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on “Public Safety: Preparing for Pandemic Disease,” to take place from August 24 to September 11 in the United States.

Panos Caribbean

The article below is a production distributed through Panoscope, a series of Panos Caribbean. It is made freely available to your media and we encourage publishing and redistribution, giving credit to Panos Caribbean. We appreciate feedback.

For further information contact: Indi Mclymont/Jan Voordouw, Panos Caribbean.

Tel: 920-0070-1

E-mail: jamaica@panoscaribbean.org

Regional study to put greater focus on communicating climate change

By Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, Journalist

Nassau, Bahamas. March 10, 2009, (Panos) - Neil Pierre, Caribbean sub-region Director of the United Nation Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has indicated that a feasibility study to be done by his organization over the next few months will include a greater focus on systematic communication on climate change across the region.

Nassau, Bahamas. 2 March 2009: The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will be holding three public workshops in Caribbean islands to engage all of society in preparing for the likely economic impacts of climate change on key sectors of the Caribbean economies.

The workshops will take place in the Bahamas (Tuesday 3 March), St. Kitts (Friday 6 March) and Trinidad (Tuesday 10 March). Participants will explore regional as well as local economic impacts of climate change and various mitigation and adaptation options. The sessions will consist of a press conference followed by a seminar on climate change in the Caribbean. The organizers seek to mobilize various stakeholders in building solutions to this challenge.

Panos Caribbean
The article below is a production distributed through Panoscope, a series of Panos Caribbean. It is made freely available to your media and we encourage publishing and redistribution, giving credit to Panos Caribbean. We appreciate feedback.

For further information contact: Indi Mclymont/Jan Voordouw, Panos Institute.

Tel: 920-0070-1

E-mail: jamaica@panoscaribbean.org

Network of Caribbean Parliamentarians on Population and Development Formed.

By Andrea Downer, freelance writer

Kingston, January 12, 2009, (Panos) - The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has formed a network of Caribbean Parliamentarians on Population and Development to promote population and reproductive health issues at the government level in the region.

Environment Division Summer Camp Wrapped Up

August 8

The Environment Division within the Ministry of Tourism, Aviation and the Environment summer camp which involves special programme for teenagers culminated August 8.

Among the lessons learned were the contribution of scientific data on beaches.

Summer Camp 2008 host over 150 children between the ages of seven and 14 between. It runs from 14 July to 8 Aug.

The camp is the second of its kind that focused on the environment. It seeks to assist children to understand their environment and how it can impact on their health and livelihood. Children were given an opportunity to understand the importance of a healthy environment to a thriving economy.

Ashe promotes biodiversity at World Environment Day event in Montreal

June 11 2008

The importance of sustainable development for the developing countries which make up the Group of 77 (G77) and China was highlighted by Antigua and Barbuda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador John Ashe during an event promoting biodiversity in Montreal.

Last week’s World Environment Day was celebrated by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Montreal diplomatic community by hoisting for the first time the United Nations flag at the entrance to the Montreal World Trade Centre, which has been host to the Convention Secretariat since January 1996.