Following the international launch in Monaco in September, CMS Executive Secretary Robert Hepworth hosted a Wider Caribbean Launch Event in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Several local and regional media such as “The Gleaner” covered the event. It was held in the margins of the 9th Meeting of the Parties to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region. More than 50 delegates and supporters attended the launch which also featured a “Dolphin” cocktail” created specially to mark the event.

Regional and local NGOs were especially enthusiastic about the Year of the Dolphin. The CMS Secretariat invited new project applications e.g. from the White Water To Blue Water (WW2BW) initiative which fosters partnerships throughout the Wider Caribbean Region.

CMS made further practical suggestions to support regional initiatives linked to the Year of the Dolphin. Co-sponsoring a meeting or workshop on the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife Protocol (SPAW) marine mammal action plan during 2007 could help to promote the conservation of these cetacean species. A joint study on the sustainable use of migratory species resources with a focus on ecotourism could indicate its potential impact on the economic development of the region.

Cetacean conservation plays a prominent role in CMS’s work. Following the COP resolution, CMS has had a strong mandate from Parties to build up a global initiative on by-catch. As a result, CMS is about to appoint a full-time CMS Scientific Councillor operating on this for at least the next two years. Since the Convention attaches such high importance to the region, a specifically Caribbean dimension will be built into this programme.

Institutions dealing with the conservation of migratory species are already in place in the region, exemplified by the Caribbean Environment Programme and other networks working on species groups such as turtles and cetaceans. As environmental governance foresees an enhanced role for UNEP, CMS is seeking to strengthen conservation programmes in the Wider Caribbean Region. “After the accession of a number of Small Island Development States to CMS in recent months, we hope that Antigua and Barbuda as well as Cuba will follow suit and become the first SIDS in the Wider Caribbean Region to join CMS”, said Robert Hepworth.

The CMS Executive Secretary also gave presentations to the Meetings of Parties to the Cartagena Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean and its Wildlife Protocol (SPAW). Mr Hepworth expressed his gratitude to Nelson Colmenares Andrade, Coordinator of the Cartagena Convention, for becoming one of the first Regional Seas Secretariats to sign a partnership agreement with UNEP/CMS: He spoke of the particular relevance of CMS for the Wider Caribbean, for example the new initiatives on sharks and by-catch as well as existing projects on marine turtles.

Click here to view the Executive Secretary’s statement at Montego Bay.