Mr. Nelson Andrade-Colmenares, Coordinator of the Jamaica based UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme, highlighted that this annual event is a great opportunity for people to see how poor disposal of garbage generated by activities on land and/or sea can end up polluting the beautiful beaches and waters of the Caribbean.  As volunteers coordinate local beach and river-cleaning activities, Mr. Andrade added that an important feature of this annual event will be the increased awareness of pollution issues and the need for us to change our poor solid waste disposal practices.    

The importance of this Annual International Coastal Clean Up is especially significant for the Wider Caribbean Region which has been identified as a Special Area by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) under the MARPOL Convention Annex V dealing with prevention of pollution by garbage from ships.  Efforts are ongoing by UNEP/CEP, IMO and their joint centre for Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Information and Training Center (REMPEITC-Caribe), based in Curacao to have this Special Area Designation formally enforced. 

Mr. Chris Corbin, Programme Officer at UNEP CEP in Jamaica responsible for pollution prevention, confirmed that pollution of the marine environment continues to be one of the major threats to Caribbean economies especially those based on tourism and fishing.  He added that any efforts to improve awareness of the need to reduce and prevent pollution also helped to meet the obligations of the only regional agreement on pollution prevention in the region, the Land Based Sources of Marine Pollution Protocol.  Six countries - Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, France, Belize, Saint Lucia and the United States of America have formally signed and ratified this important agreement and only three more signatories are now needed to have the protocol become international law.  According to Mr. Corbin, having this Protocol enter into force for the Caribbean will help improve the region’s ability to protect its beaches from all forms of marine pollution and not just garbage.    

While the Annual International Coastal Clean up is a single event on the Environmental calendar, UNEP’s Caribbean Environment Programme continues to support several activities to prevent and reduce marine litter contamination.  The recent development of a Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter forms the basis for identifying priorities and assisting countries to strengthen their environmental laws and policies while at the same time paying special attention to increasing awareness among the general public. 

This September 19th everyone can support the 24th Annual International Coastal Cleanup.  Last year, nearly 400,000 volunteers collected more than 6.8 million pounds of trash in 104 countries — the world's largest volunteer effort of its kind.  Help make this year’s effort even greater!

Contact:

Christopher Corbin, Programme Officer, UNEP CAR/RCU, 14-20 Port Royal Street, Kingston, JAMAICA; Tel # 876 922 9267; Fax # 876 922 9292; E mail cjc@cep.unep.org

Notes to Editors:

To sign up the International Coastal Cleanup Campaign, go to http://www.signuptocleanup.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Projects.Main&CFID=5616706&CFTOKEN=18935094

To learn more about the LBS Protocol and UNEP CAR/RCU’s programmes in the Wider Caribbean Region, go to

http://www.cep.unep.org

To learn more about UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme and its global initiative on marine litter, go to

http://www.unep.org/regionalseas

http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/marinelitter/publications/docs/anl_oview.pdf