Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for POPs in the Caribbean

A Regional Validation Workshop was hosted by the Basel Convention Regional Centre for the Caribbean on  September 25th, 2014 to  September 26th, 2014 at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, Port of Spain. 

The workshop was attended by one Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Operational Focal Point and one Stockholm Convention National Focal or Official Contact Point from each of the following eight (8) Caribbean territories: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

These countries represent the member states involved in the GEF funded full-sized project “Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean”. Ms. Keima Gardiner, Environmental Engineering Specialist, Environmental Policy Analyst represented the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources at the Workshop.

The workshop was convened to:

• finalise all technical administrative and financial elements of the project as discussed in the Town Meetings held in July, 2014 in the respective territories 
• refine the budget and work plan for the project 
• provide an official forum for consensus building and project validation 

 

Representatives from the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) were present to facilitate information sharing among project member states and foster collaboration in advance of official project implementation. This was done by providing participants with resource material and empirical information on UNIDO's experiences with POPs and unintentional POPs (uPOPs) in other countries. The Regional Consultant for the Project, Ms. Camille Roopnarine, gave an in-depth review of the project components as it related to the expected outputs, affiliated activities and budgetary allocations for each. 

At the end of the Workshop, regional stakeholders agreed in principle with the outcomes and this was to be confirmed through the provision of individual co-financing agreements.

Group photo of the participants including Ms. Gardiner (front, 4th from the left) at the GEF funded Regional POPs Project with representation from Caribbean states, UNIDO and BCRC-Caribbean.