The Convention on Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife
(SPAW Protocol)
The Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (the SPAW Protocol) was adopted as the second protocol to the Cartagena Convention. The objective of the SPAW Protocol is to protect rare and fragile ecosystems and habitats, thereby protecting the endangered and threatened species residing therein. The Protocol also acts as a vehicle to assist with the regional implementation of the broader and more demanding global Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which the Government of Barbados ratified on December 10, 1993.
The recent ratification by the Government of St. Lucia brought the Protocol into force. It has taken ten years for the requisite number of Countries, nine, to ratify or accede to the SPAW Protocol. Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Panama, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago have ratified or acceded to the Protocol.
The Ministry of Environment, Energy and Natural Resources is now ready to proceed with recommendations for Barbados' accession to the Protocol. The Ministry had delayed in making the recommendation since there did not appear to be regional commitment to this particular instrument and there were difficulties in our being able to adhere to the provisions. However, with the completion of the Environmental Management and Land Use Planning for Sustainable Development Project and the resultant documents, the National Park Development Plan and Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines and Procedures and also the establishment of the Environmental Special Projects Unit and the completion of their feasibility studies of Carlisle Bay, Folkestone and Associated Sites and the initiation of the study on the Marine Management Authority for Carlisle Bay , the position of the Ministry has improved and it is now felt that commitments under the Protocol can be met.
The Protocol also serves as a vehicle for the implementation of other global initiatives and legal instruments such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, MARPOL 73/78, the Basel Convention, the International Coral Reef Initiative and others, at the regional level.
