Happy 2001 also to our various readers, experts, and writers who provided articles or material for CEPnews editions. The Governments of the Wider Caribbean, UNEP and a number of UN and non-UN partner organisations debated quite a while on what this programme should be all about and how this programme should function. CEP had quite an active youth, learning and consulting with all parties involved in its upbringing. Still today, the only legally binding environmental treaty for the Wider Caribbean is the Cartagena Convention.
Infants are usually dependent for their development.
The young CEP was no exception as it depended on the support of so many. UNEP was the main source of support for the early years as customary with its Regional Seas Programmes until they become self-dependent. The Caribbean Trust Fund was established shortly after the establishment of CEP by the member Governments, which together with the support from partner organisations, other governments and donors, have allowed the CEP to keep growing. In 1997 Governments recognised that CEP's development needed to focus in major areas to address the provisions of the Convention and priorities for the region. But those were also difficult years.