An agreement that took nearly ten years to become international law came into effect this week. It is a legal commitment by Caribbean countries to protect, develop and manage their common coastal and marine resources both individually and jointly.
Many Caribbean countries are dependent on their coastlines for tourism and fishing.
But these resources are disappearing or are seriously threatened, with wildlife disappearing through over-exploitation and habitat destruction. The Caribbean monk seal is most probably extinct, the West Indian manatee is rapidly disappearing with a few left in most of the countries where it exists, and all species of Caribbean sea turtles are recognized as being endangered. Mangroves, corals, conch, fishes and other marine mammals are also being over-exploited without proper assessment of their population status. Protection under the new agreement is focused on fragile and vulnerable ecosystems as a whole, rather than on the many individually threatened Caribbean species. It encourages the sustainable management of the region's coastal and ocean resources at the ecosystem level.