See the attached form to see where your school is in the Recycling Competition! Remember Recycling is a Habit! Pick it Up!

January Collection

February Collection

March Collection

Register to be a part of the Environment Division and Antigua and Barbuda Waste Recycling Corporation’s Inter-School Recycling Competition! Return the completed form to aricamhill@yahoo.com. Recycling Competition Reg Form

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.

In celebration of this important milestone, UNEP-CEP is inviting children from the ages of 12 to 18 to participate through their school class, environmental club, faith-based group, local community or youth organization, in constructing a collage to illustrate how we can protect the fragile coastal and marine environment from land-based sources of pollution.

The Competition will run from 2^nd February until 30^th June, when all national entries will be submitted to their country representative.  Each of the 28 countries of the WCR will be asked to organize the national component of the campaign, and pick a winning entry, which will then be eligible to compete in the regional competition.  National prizes will be determined by each country individually, with winners being announced in time for International Coastal Cleanup Day, in late September.  UNEP-CEP will complete the regional judging in shortly thereafter, awarding cash prizes in the amount of US$1,000, US$750 and US$500 to first, second and third prize regional winners respectively.

The winning collage overall for the competition will be converted into a portable banner to be used by UNEP-CEP in future United Nations promotions and educational initiatives.

Asked to describe what kind of images UNEP-CEP would be interested in receiving, Tess Cieux, UNEP-CEP Communications Officer responded: “We hope that the students will work together to come up with creative ways of visualizing concrete actions, such as participating in beach clean-ups, planting trees, taking the time to sort recyclable items and to place them in their proper receptacles, and carrying reusable bags, instead of single use plastic bags.  We have no doubt that the medium of the collage will lend itself to some powerful statements on the dos and don’ts of preventing the pollution of the marine environment.”

For further information, please contact:

Tess Cieux
Programme Officer
Communication, Education, Training and Awareness (CETA)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit (CAR/RCU)
Tel: (876) 922-9267  Fax: (876) 922-9292
Mobile: (876) 363-3005
Email: tkc@cep.unep.org

About UNEP’s Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP)

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established the Caribbean Environment Programme (CEP) in 1976 under the framework of its Regional Seas Programme. It was developed on the importance and value of the Wider Caribbean Region’s fragile and vulnerable coastal and marine ecosystems including an abundant and mainly endemic flora and fauna.

A Caribbean Action Plan was adopted by the Countries of the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) and that led to the development and adoption of the Cartagena Convention on 24 March 1983. This Convention is the first regionally binding treaty of its kind that seeks to protect and develop the marine environment of the WCR. Since its entry into force on 11 October 1986, 25 of the 28 WCR countries have become contracting parties.

The Convention is supported by three protocols:

• Protocol concerning Cooperation in combating Oil Spills, which entered into force on October 11, 1986;
• Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW), which entered into force on June 18, 2000.
• Protocol concerning Pollution from Land-based sources and activities, which entered into force in 2010.

In addition, each Protocol is served by a Regional Activity Centre. These Centers are based in Curacao (Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Information and Training Center for the Wider Caribbean, RAC/REMPEITC) for the Oil Spills Protocol; in Guadeloupe (RAC/SPAW) for the SPAW Protocol and in Cuba (Centre of Engineering and Environmental Management of Coasts and Bays) and Trinidad & Tobago (Institute of Marine Affairs) both for the LBS Protocol.

The Regional Coordinating Unit (UNEP-CAR/RCU), established in 1986, serves as the Secretariat to the Cartagena Convention and is based in Kingston, Jamaica. As they endeavour to protect the Caribbean Sea and sustain our future, we look forward to their continued effort to combat marine pollution by facilitating the implementation of the Cartagena Convention and its Protocols in the Wider Caribbean Region.

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.

UNEP-CEP therefore invites competition participants to use the medium of the collage to illustrate the importance of preventing the pollution of the Caribbean Sea from land-based sources and activities and taking concrete actions such as:

-          Disposing of garbage properly and not in rivers, drains or beaches;

-          Participating in beach clean-ups and picking up litter at the seashore;

-          Promoting reusing and reducing the use of disposable plastic bags and bottles;

-          Reducing the use of toxic pesticides and improving fertilizer management;

-          Planting a tree, a shrub or a flowering plant, to stabilise the soil and reduce the risk of erosion.

The competition runs for approximately four months, starting on February 2 (World Wetlands Day) until May 22 (International Day of Biological Diversity). The details of the competition are available on the Environment Division’s website www.environmentdivision.info/blog or on UNEP’s website www.cep.unep.org.

“We firmly hope that this competition will bring of the necessary awareness about issues relating to pollution and littering. In the past we have found that speaking to children has been effective, and their activism has resulted in the adoption of beaches, planting of gardens and the reduction of recyclables at the landfill. Perhaps this particular activity will also encourage others to actively become a part of the solution to pollutants ending up in our seas”, stated Acting Senior Environment Officer, Ruleta Camacho.

Here is the opportunity to work side-by-side with some of Antigua’s environmentalists! The Environment Division, in collaboration with a number of its partners, is teaming up to offer 10 Environmental Cadets one week internships during the summer! Interested cadets are required to complete the attached application form.

Each form must be accompanied by a 500 word (typed) essay stating how the internship will be beneficial and why the applicant is deserving of this opportunity, and a reference letter from the Principal of the school. All applications must be submitted by May 22nd, 2011 to the Environment Division.

Application Form for an Environmental Internship

ALERT :: YUNGA :: ALERT :: YUNGA :: ALERT :: YUNGA :: ALERT

Biodiversity art competition

Recent developments from YUNGA, 29 January 2010

This is the International Year of Biodiversity and on the 12 August it will also be the International Year of Youth. So……………

You have no excuse get involved, be active, create the change )

This year will be packed with activities and we will keep you up to date on all of them.

The first initiative is the biodiversity art competition -> take part and you could see your artwork all over the world )

For more information go to: www.fao.org/climatechange/youth/en/

So what are you waiting for, its your year lets go )