Caribbean Hub
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat is the Caribbean Hub of the ACP-MEAs Programme. The CARICOM Secretariat is the principle administrative organ of the Caribbean Community, which comprises 15 Caribbean countries. The Secretariat’s Sustainable Development and Environment Programme, which is responsible for implementation of ACP-MEAs activities in the Caribbean, provides assistance and support to CARICOM Member States to promote and safeguard environmental sustainability across the Community.
The Caribbean Hub provides capacity-building services to 17 Caribbean countries (the 16 Caribbean ACP States and Montserrat, which is a full member of CARICOM). The main targets of the action are government officials and national authorities with a role in MEA implementation. The wider group of stakeholder beneficiaries includes non-governmental organization, academic institutions, the private sector, local communities, and relevant sub-regional, regional and international organizations.
The Caribbean Hub focuses on building and strengthening capacity for implementation of, enforcement of, and compliance with MEAs, via the establishment and strengthening of partnerships with key national, regional and international stakeholders. The Hub provides training, technical assistance, information and guidance, and advisory support services to build countries' capacity to effectively implement their MEA obligations.
The overall objective of the Caribbean Hub is to strengthen and enhance the endogenous capacity of Caribbean ACP countries to effectively implement and comply with MEAs and related commitments. This will improve sound management of the environment and natural resources. In particular, it will facilitate Caribbean countries to address development challenges associated with the adverse effects of climate change, loss of biodiversity, drought, land degradation, waste management and other threats to the environment. The Caribbean Hub will contribute to the implementation of strategies for sustainable development, increasing the prosperity of the region and reducing poverty and improving peoples’ livelihoods.
The specific objective of the Caribbean Hub is to strengthen the implementation of MEAs at the national and regional levels in Caribbean ACP countries through the enhancement of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat as an environmental hub. The Caribbean Hub will deliver quality capacity-building services to Caribbean ACP countries, such as project writing skills, negotiation and lobbying skills, legislative drafting and information management and exchange. The Caribbean Hub will also support the synergistic implementation of MEAs.
Partners
To ensure the successful implementation of the project, the Caribbean Hub works with its partners and stakeholders at the national, regional and international level. National Focal points play a key role in determining and prioritising the capacity needs of their country in the context of the project’s focal areas. This engagement with national partners serves to ensure that the project is responsive to stakeholder needs and to foster national ownership of the activities and results.
Regional and international partners are also key contributors to the success of the ACP-MEAs project in the Caribbean.
Some of the key regional partners engaged in implementing the Project have included the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations Environment Programme Caribbean Environment Programme, the Caribbean Development Bank, the Secretariat of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, and the Basel Convention Regional Centre for Training and Technology for the Caribbean Region.
International partners, including the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and the Access and Benefit-Sharing Capacity Development Initiative, have also contributed expertise and resources to the Caribbean Hub’s capacity building programme.
In addition, South-South cooperation, information sharing and exchange of best practices with the other regional Hubs have all served to enhance the delivery of capacity-development activities in the Caribbean.