The resolution entitled: "Promoting an integrated management approach to the Caribbean Sea area in the context of sustainable development", stems from the Meeting of Caribbean Ministers on the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (Barbados Programme of Action), when Ministers decided to seek international recognition (by the UN General Assembly) of the "Caribbean Sea as a special area in the context of sustainable development". The text in quotation marks was, in fact, the gist of the original title of the Draft Resolution presented by ACS Members before the General Assembly in 1997.

Later, in Venezuela in 2001 the Heads of State/Government of the ACS reiterated that the Caribbean Sea is our common heritage and decided to continue to take the necessary steps further this “Caribbean Sea Initiative”.

Sadly, all attempts by ACS Members towards achieving this goal, already obtained in some measure by other seas in other regions, have met with rock-solid opposition, particularly by key developed countries, though some of our developing brothers have also played their part. This is especially disheartening, given that one of the major achievements for developing countries at the Earth Summit held in Rio, was precisely the recognition of the “principle of common but differentiated responsibilities”, vis a vis the environment and development, amongst developed and developing countries (see Guardian 01/09/04, pg. 23).

The original proposal recognised that the Montego Bay Convention placed large marine spaces under the jurisdiction of coastal states and thus the countries of the Greater Caribbean, particularly Small Island Developing States, now have authority over maritime spaces in some cases larger than their land areas and that, by the same token, this makes them the guardians of spaces for which they lack the financial, human and institutional resources to safeguard their rights and fulfil their obligations in order to use resources in a sustainable manner. These challenges, which cannot be overcome unilaterally, led the ACS to seek a multilateral framework in which they could face their new rights and obligations.

By omitting the recognition of the special area as put forward in the original draft, we have lost, for all practical purposes, the acceptance by the international community that the Caribbean Sea is a fragile ecosystem shared by many countries and territories of different sizes, populations and economic development, which depend to a greater or lesser degree on the sea for their economic development and on the economic, social, legal, environmental and other limitations of the countries of the Greater Caribbean to safeguard this heritage.

From an operational standpoint, the very title of the Resolutions passed since 1997 suggests a clear resource management focus which ignores the development aspects and in fact, places the burden of maintaining the integrity of the Caribbean on those less prepared to bear it, though they are not the only ones that use the Sea.

Giving up is not an option. During the current General Assembly the ACS countries, under the able leadership of the Delegation of Barbados, will once again endeavour to introduce into consideration an approach to the sustainable development of the Caribbean Sea that recognises its value to the economic, social, legal, institutional, environmental and other sustainable development needs of Caribbean peoples in a comprehensive manner, rather than as a new attempt to protect only the marine environment for which a multiplicity of legal instruments already exist.

Luis Carpio is the Political Adviser of the Association of Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org

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08 October, 2004