Synergies/Mainstreaming
It is often the case in Caribbean countries that while the Environment Ministry or Department may serve as the national focal point for an MEA or MEAs, the relevant operational and technical functions are distributed amongst a variety of other agencies including departments of Forestry, Fisheries, Customs, National Parks, Environmental Health, Agriculture, Public Works, Energy, Statistics, Legal Affairs, Economic Affairs, and other. This tendency of dispersal of function creates challenges for coordination, efficiency and effectiveness of actions at the national level.
Taking into account, too, that the Caribbean is composed of small coastal and small island developing states that face significant financial and human resource constraints, synergistic implementation of MEAs can provide a viable and practical approach to the effective implementation of the commitments made by countries under the MEAs to which they are Parties.
The actions of the ACP MEAs programme in the Caribbean are intended to help increase policy and action coherence and to cpaute opportunities for synergistic action and results at the national level. Mainstreaming MEAs and strengthening institutional synergies are valuable approaches to improve efficiencies and maximize impact.
The Caribbean Hub also works to create and take advantage of synergies through cooperation, partnership and co-action with other organizations on shared objectives and in areas of common interest.
To support environmental and MEAs mainstreaming the Caribbean Hub in partnership with the Intenational Institute for Sustainable Development, and with input from countries participating in the ACP MEAs programme, has formulated an approach to capacity building for mainstreaming that is based on the Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework. The mainstreaming approach is summarized in the Training Module on Achieving National and Sectoral Development Priorities and has been used successfully in regional and national workshops in the Caribbean since 2011.
The Caribbean Hub is also contributing to institutional approaches to mainstreaming by encouraging and facilitating opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration, communication, awareness-raising and exploration of synergies, through activities that involve environmental officers, customs officers, Ministries of Legal Affairs, economists, departments of agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, NGOs, academia and the private sector.