The CLME+ region
The
Caribbean and North Brazil Shelf Large Marine Ecosystems (jointly further
referred to as “the CLME+ region”)
are 2 of the world’s 66 large marine ecosystems or LME’s. Together, these 2
ecosystems cover a marine space of approximately 4.4 million km2 and
are shared by 26 Independent States and 18 Overseas Territories. The CLME+
ecosystems are a major contributor to regional
socio-economic development and are key to many globally important ecological processes and to the conservation of biological diversity. Fisheries and tourism, two key economic drivers in the CLME+ region, are highly
dependent on marine ecosystem health. The countries that share the CLME+ region
are culturally diverse and range from among the largest (e.g. Brazil, USA) to
among the smallest (e.g. Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis) and from the most
developed to the least developed in the world. Countries from the CLME+ region
are united through several, often partially overlapping, political integration mechanisms: e.g. the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Central
American Integration System (SICA). Geopolitically,
the CLME+ region constitutes one of the world’s most diverse and complex sets of LMEs, making the joint
governance & management of shared living marine resources in the region
particularly challenging.
The politically endorsed 10-year
“CLME+ Strategic Action Programme” (SAP; 2015-25)
Pollution, habitat
degradation and unsustainable
fisheries & fishing practices have increasingly impacted marine
ecosystem health in this region. Between 2009 and 2013, Transboundary
Diagnostic Analyses (“TDAs”) were conducted with the support of the UNDP/GEF CLME Project, leading to the
development and adoption in 2013 of an ambitious, region-wide 10-year Strategic Action Programme (“the CLME+ SAP”).
By early 2014, this action programme, which aims at halting and reversing environmental degradation and
at enhancing the sustainability of fisheries across the wider CLME+ region, had
already been politically endorsed by
more than 30 Ministers, representing more than 20 of the region’s countries.
The UNDP/GEF “CLME+ Project” and the
global “CLME+ Partnership”
A multitude of organizations -including
several UN agencies, regional inter-governmental organizations and NGO’s- are
active in the CLME+ region in fields related to the CLME+ SAP: fisheries,
environmental protection and sustainable development. Numerous programmes, projects and initiatives
that contribute to the SAP’s objectives are currently under execution. Yet, coordination and collaboration among
the many organizations and initiatives in the region is still incipient.
In 2015, a
US$ 12,5 million grant was released by the GEF to support the execution of a
new 5-year project, the UNDP/GEF “CLME+
Project” (2015-2020). This project will help catalyzing and coordinating the implementation of the 10-year CLME+ SAP. Enhanced communication and coordination among the many different
projects, programmes and initiatives working on the marine environment in the
CLME+ region is one of its objectives.
The latter has given rise to the establishment of an interim
coordination mechanism, the “CLME+ SAP ICM” (a collaborative arrangement among
8 regional Inter-Governmental Organizations), and the global “CLME+ Partnership”. Initial work has also taken place in
this context on the development of a central online communication and exchange
platform for the partnership, the “CLME+
HUB” (www.clmeplus.org), with
another key output being the development and institutionalization of a formal
reporting mechanism on the “State of the
Marine Environment and associated Economies in the CLME+ region” (the “CLME+ SOMEE”)
The CLME+ Communication Strategy
Under
CLME+ Project Component # 2, a draft over-arching CLME+ Communication Strategy
was developed, to support the implementation of the CLME+ Project and SAP. The
CLME+ Communications Strategy has a central
as well as a series of decentralized
components. Responsibilities for the further updating and implementation of the Strategy’s central
component will lay with the CLME+
PCU. It will be led by the CLME+ Project Communications Specialist (CLME+
CS), in collaboration with and supported by a network of Technical Specialists – constituting the CLME+ Communications Support Team.
Key CLME+
Project partners will be responsible for the development/adaptation and
implementation of the Strategy’s decentralized components, in alignment with
their formal mandates and/or recognized roles in living marine resources
management.
The CLME+
Communications Support Team will also support
cross-partner collaboration & coordination, in such ways that synergies
can be maximized, and overall coherence among the central and decentralized
components of the CLME+ Communication Strategy can be ensured.
Key
partners of the CLME+ Project include, but will not necessarily be limited to:
UN Environment CEP, FAO WECAFC, IOC of UNESCO/IOCARIBE, UNDP, CRFM, OSPESCA,
CERMES/UWI, CANARI, OECS, CARICOM, CCAD, GCFI, TNC, Conservation International,
WWF, etc.