This world environment day, the ACS is proud to participate in the landmark UN Oceans Conference in its capacity as the organization charged with preserving the Caribbean Sea and seeking its recognition as a special area of sustainable development. The ACS remains committed to helping the region overcome the challenges through initiatives such as the Sandy Shorelines Project. This project establishes a unified regional monitoring network. It will not only improve regional understanding of the impacts of sea level rise, but allow for these impacts to be framed as regional, improving ACS Member States’ ability to advocate for enhanced Caribbean Sea preservation and donor financing.

Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) Dr. June Soomer, and Director of Transport and Disaster Risk Reduction Arturo Lopez-Portillo Contreras met with critical development partners in Mexico – CENAPRED (National Centre for Prevention of Disasters), AMEXCID (Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation), INEGI (Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography). They met to discuss the implementation of the objectives of the “United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management” initiative (UN-GGIM) and of the “Caribbean Platform of Territorial Information for Disaster Prevention” PITCA project.
The Secretary General and Director are in Cancun, Mexico, attending the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (Global Platform). The Global Platform is recognised by the UN General Assembly, and is the major global forum for coordination, partnership development and implementation of international instruments on disaster risk reduction.

The ACS, through its Directorate of Sustainable Tourism, is participating in The 61st Meeting of the UNWTO Regional Commission for the Americas, organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The meeting is being held in San Salvador, El Salvador and Roatan, Honduras on May 30th – June 1st, 2017. The Meeting of the Commission will be followed by the International Seminar on New Technologies Applied to Tourism which will focus on three main topics:•ICTs and Tourism Observatories •Big Data and Tourism •New Platform Tourism Services
Stakeholders of the global tourism sector are participating in this event and will be discussing the importance of new technologies within the tourism industry. The advancement of technology has not only significantly improved the quality of service, but it has also been integral in increasing competitiveness and economic development through effective marketing strategies, promotion of tourist destinations, bridging culture gaps, promoting diverse employment opportunities and effective public relations management. Therefore, with the support of the UNWTO and the ACS the tourism sector within the Caribbean Region will be empowered by adopting new technologies and equipped to continue on the road to success.

Caribbean people living in the sandy, low-lying, coastal areas of the region will soon benefit from a four million-dollar project grant from the South Korean government, to assess and control the impact of coastal erosion and sea level rise in the Greater Caribbean.