By: Clinton W. Pickering
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By: Clinton W. Pickering |
| Montego Bay,
1 October 2004 (Panos): The
most important economic sectors of the Caribbean, tourism and
fisheries, are based on healthy coastal and marine resources.
However, in order to keep the coasts and seas in good condition,
the mountains and watersheds need to be protected as well. All
too often, reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds and beaches have been
adversely affected by pollution and sediments washing off the
land and brought down by the rivers. 80% of the pollution in
the ocean comes from the land. Sustainable development in the Wider Caribbean region, therefore, is not possible without integrated management of watersheds and marine ecosystems. There are many different organizations involved in environmental protection and management along the route from mountains to sea. In order to create more effective partnerships between these actors, a worldwide partnership programme was launched, called White Water to Blue Water (WW2BW). Thomas Laughlin, Deputy Director of the office of international affairs in the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a moving light behind WW2BW. "Simply put, the idea of WW2BW is to create action, to create partnerships that put together resources in people and ideas. My role is to push the envelope for doing better, to enable humans to connect and to do the best they can, in the context of economic development, poverty alleviation and all the other serious issues that we face," he says. The initiative is one of the products of the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in 2002 in South Africa. A Caribbean conference to start it all off was held in March 2004 in Miami. The WW2BW partnership in the Caribbean is led by the Caribbean Community, the Central American Commission on Environment and Development, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UN-ECLAC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United States of America. It is directed by an international Steering Committee representing governments, UN organizations, non-governmental organizations, universities and the private sector. Laughlin says that there is a newsletter and an interactive website, developed in Jamaica. "We add new partners and new projects all the time. Just a couple weeks ago we connected to people interested in river deltas, in terms of how they are being impacted overtime by human activities. A link was established between the Mississippi River and the Caribbean Sea." "Other partnerships include Australia's H2O (Hilltops to Ocean) in the Pacific Ocean, SW2SW (Sweet Water to Salt Water) in South America and Jamaica's R2RW (Ridge to Reef Watershed) project," he adds. There are now some 100 partnerships. The University of the West Indies has developed a multi-million dollar project enabling many regional activities. Laughlin says the package has been presented by WW2BW to a donor agency, Green Partners. The WW2BW initiative is being implemented globally by following a "sea by sea approach." The Caribbean Sea being has been tackled first. WW2BW Advisor Franklin McDonald of Jamaica says that everybody is pleased with the kind of response. He adds that the website is being used as a brokering tool to bring partners together. Feedback from governments indicates that they are improving internally in various ways, as a direct result of WW2BW information and partnering, according to Laughlin. But there are still challenges. A major hurdle being surmounted is the large level of skepticism about the ability to come up with new organizational structures, Laughlin says. Elizabeth McLenahan, International Affairs Specialist in NOAA, says that while there is a lot of recognition of the problems at the level of experts, more people need to be made aware of what the issues are. Looking at how different land use practices affect the marine environment and watersheds, McLenahan points to Haiti's Gonaives flood disaster as a perfect example of what WW2BW is trying to avoid. "There you see a lot of land clearing and denuding of the hillsides. Unfortunately it's a tragic story." She adds that erosion control measures would have reduced the impact of flooding significantly. A UN Conference on the special needs of Small Island Developing States will be held in January in Mauritius. According to Franklin McDonald, the Caribbean will further promote the concept of partnerships at that global meeting. There are many unmet research needs that could be alleviated by more collaboration. "For example, one of the things we found is that there is a lot of capacity at the level of city municipalities in the region. However, most city-to-city relationships are outside the region. How do we get city governments to talk to each other?" McDonald says |