Finding a Balance between Meeting Needs and Addressing Policy Issues in Integrated Watershed and Coastal Areas Management – The GEF-IWCAM Project reviews achievements and lessons learned

Finding a Balance between Meeting Needs and Addressing Policy Issues in Integrated Watershed and Coastal Areas Management – The GEF-IWCAM Project reviews achievements and lessons learned

The experiences and achievements of more than five years of implementation were shared and reviewed by project partners and stakeholders. The public was invited to follow the proceedings via live webcast, which remains available at www.iwcam.org.

The Project’s overall objective was strengthening the commitment and capacity of the participating countries to plan and manage their aquatic resources and ecosystems on a sustainable basis. It came from the realization that the sectoral approach to the management of watershed and coastal resources which prevails in Caribbean countries is unsustainable. Degradation of the environment, overexploitation of natural resources, competing resource uses and conflicts among users are all commonplace.

Messages delivered at the Opening Ceremony by the Project’s Implementing Agencies (UNEP and UNDP) and Executing Agencies (the Secretariat to the Cartagena Convention, UNEP’s Regional Coordinating Unit in Kingston; and the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute) all stressed how essential relationships and partnerships at every level were to its success.

Excerpt from the GEF-IWCAM Final Project Conference: Summary
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