The Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR), known as the Cartagena Convention, was ratified in 1986 to promote the protection and development of the marine environment in the WCR. Since then, it has been adopted by 26 countries.

Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities in the Wider Caribbean Region (LBS)

Waste Management

The fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) is expected to take place during the last week of February 2021, in Nairobi, Kenya. 

The Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) was founded in 1947 to promote the exchange of current information on the use and management of marine resources in the Gulf and Caribbean region. From its beginning, GCFI has endeavored to involve scientific, governmental, and commercial sectors to provide a broad perspective on relevant issues, and to encourage dialogue among groups that often operate in relative isolation from one another. For 37 years, GCFI operated as an informal association under the sponsorship of the University of Miami.

Plastic Free World Conference & Expo returns in 2020 with another two-day conference and exhibition for businesses looking to reduce their plastic consumption, find and source highly sustainable alternative bio-based materials, and create a more circular economy throughout their supply chain.

The COP meets every year, unless the Parties decide otherwise. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March, 1995. The COP meets in Bonn, the seat of the secretariat, unless a Party offers to host the session. Just as the COP Presidency rotates among the five recognized UN regions - that is, Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe and Others – there is a tendency for the venue of the COP to also shift among these groups.