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The GEF pilot phase project, "Planning and Management of Heavily Contaminated Bays and Coastal Areas in the Wider Caribbean" was a Pre-investment Facility (PRIF) project working in Havana Bay, Cuba; Cartagena Bay, Colombia; Puerto Lim?n, Costa Rica and Kingston Harbour, Jamaica. The project succeeded in achieving its principal objectives, including: 1) development of integrated Investment Action Plans for the rehabilitation and management of the four bays, 2) formulation of proposals for Institutional Strengthening to improve the operational capacities of those institutions responsible for bay management, and 3) identify sources of financing for the implementation of proposed remedial actions. The PRIF and related national and donor activities have helped to leverage baseline investments in the four bays in excess of $250 million. One of the priority issues in the region identified in the pilot phase project and other studies is the problem of eutrophication resulting from excess inputs of nutrients to the coastal zone and adjacent international waters. Principal sources of nutrient contamination in the four pilot sites include poorly or untreated sewage, agriculture and industrial activities. As a follow-up to the PRIF and on-going baseline, the proposed GEF project will leverage national co-financing to help two of the countries to overcome a number of key barriers to the adoption of best practices that limit the contamination of their national and adjacent international waters. The project will implement demonstrations/pilot projects to test innovative technical, management, legislative and educational approaches for reducing the input of priority international waters contaminants, the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus, to Havana Bay, Kingston Harbour and the adjacent Wider Caribbean. It will further strengthen and/or help create new institutions responsible for the rehabilitation and sustainable management of the two bays. The project supports the mandate of the Cartagena Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region, particularly Article 7, Pollution from Land-based Sources, and Article 13, Scientific and Technical Co-operation, as well as the new Land-Based Sources Protocol currently in preparation. In addition to the demonstrations/pilot projects noted above, UNEP-CAR/RCU will be responsible for regional coordination, including sharing and dissemination of project activities and nutrient pollution control strategies for the Wider Caribbean. Activities will include print and on-line information dissemination, regional workshops and study tours, in order to promote and exchange best practices and lessons learned to other countries in the Wider Caribbean Region facing similar problems with excess nutrients and eutrophication.

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A full-size project has been developed within the context of the GEF Operational Program 10 with a GEF PDFB grant of US$ 316,000 and co-financing of US$ 517,500. The project Brief , entitled ?Integrating Watershed and Coastal Area Management in Small Island Developing States of the Caribbean?, has been submitted to the GEF May 2002 Council Work Program. Total project financing will be GEF US$ 10,362,000 million and co-financing (from the Secretariat of the Cartagena Convention, CEHI, UNDP, Governments of participating countries, and the Organisation of American States (OAS)) US$ 21,831,000 million. The objective of the full-size project is to strengthen the capacity of the participating countries to implement an integrated approach to the management of watersheds and coastal areas. The long-term goal is to enhance the capacity of the countries to plan and manage their aquatic resources and ecosystems on a sustainable basis. The project recognises the integrated and interlinked nature of watersheds and coastal areas in small islands and aims to develop a more sectorally-coordinated management approach, both at the national and the regional level, with a strong emphasis on an expanded role for all stakeholders within a participatory management framework. The Project?s main focus is on demonstrating integrated watershed and coastal area management systems. The demonstrations will stress the need for development of a cross sectoral management approach which, must address the requirements for institutional and infrastructural realignment; adoption of modalities for sectoral participation; capacity building; linkages to social and economic root causes of environmental degradation; and the overall need for sustainability. The Project comprises four components (1. Project Management and Co-ordination; 2. IWCAM Demonstration Projects; 3. Strengthening Capacity For IWCAM; 4. Sustaining Support and Capacity for IWCAM) consistent with the global objectives and need to address the root causes identified during the project preparation process. Component 1 will be divided into three sub-components supporting activities, which will enable project management and coordination, project steering and monitoring at the regional level, and the development of closer regional partnerships. Component 2 will support the demonstration of actual working examples of IWCAM within a defined watershed and/or coastal system boundary, addressing priority issues as identified in the root cause analysis. Component 3 addresses the need to strengthen institutional capacity, while improving and reforming policy and legislation to provide better support for effective implementation of IWCAM in the region. Component 3 will identify deficiencies and barriers to IWCAM, develop solutions to the barriers and identify incentives to move national and regional institutions toward the establishment of an appropriate institutional framework for IWCAM Component 4 will assist in making the reforms addressed under Component Three through effective awareness raising and training at various levels of society and government.

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The San Juan River Basin and its coastal zone, encompassing the subbasins of Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River, extends through southeastern Nicaragua and northeastern Costa Rica to the Caribbean Sea linking ecosystems that are particularly valuable for their biodiversity and economic potential. The Strategic Action Programme (SAP) formulated under this project will contribute to the conservation of natural ecosystems and to social and economic development in order to satisfy present and future demands minimizing water conflicts. The major components of the SAP formulation include: i) the strengthening of a basin-wide information system that provides the mechanisms for gathering and dissemination of data adequate to the needs of decision-making for the integrated management of the basin; ii) the creation of a well-coordinated bilateral planning process for the SJRB; iii) the implementation of a public participation process; iv) the strengthening of public institutions and private organizations; and v) the formulation and implementation of environmental education activities. Its execution is expected to bring both local and global benefits, such as conservation of the water cycle, the preservation of major water bodies and of the region?s biodiversity, and the protection of extensive carbon sinks. The Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA), carried out with the active participation of key stakeholders during the PDF-Block B phase, pointed to a number of current and emerging problems that threaten the sustainability of development in the San Juan River Basin and ultimately the quality of life of the people who live there. These transboundary environmental problems often have common roots and manifest themselves both individually and collectively. They are closely interrelated, but in the interest of seeking solutions they have been broken down as follows: accelerating degradation of transboundary ecosystems, overexploitation of valuable natural resources, soil degradation and increasing sedimentation, pollution of water bodies and high vulnerability to natural hazards. The principal root causes of these major environmental problems are as follows: inadequate planning and management, weak institutions, insufficient human and institutional capacity, limited stakeholder participation, and extreme poverty. The SAP will layout a series of measures to reduce and/or eliminate current and emerging problems affecting the conservation and development of the SJRB. It will enhance the transboundary and global benefits obtained when development is both integrated and participatory, and when environmental education, technology transfer, and institutional strengthening are key elements of a program. The SAP will address priority transboundary needs and focus on long-term solutions to the current and emerging problems facing the SJRB. Furthermore, it will propose a series of projects based on experience gathered from demonstrations of new technologies, taking into account their real costs and the capacity of the institutions and organizations involved to execute them. The execution of the SJRB project also contributes to the implementation of the priorities set by the Central American Presidents. These include a variety of economic goals, such as the development of border areas, the conservation of natural resources, and the protection of biodiversity, with specific reference to strengthening the Meso-American Biological Corridor, achieving sustainable use of water resources, and protecting the integrity of drainage basins. It will further contribute to the Action Plan for Integrated Water Resources Management of the Central American Isthmus (PACADIRH), which is being implemented by the Central American Committee on Water Resources (CRRH) as Technical Secretariat of the Water Group created by the System for Central American Integration (SICA) in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in October of 1998.

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The overall objective of the project is to enhance the control and prevention of maritime transport related pollution in the major ports, navigational transport routes and adjacent coastal and marine areas within the Gulf of Honduras. This effort will be an important contribution to the environmental management of an area of significant ecological and economic value. As such, it is designed to complement a parallel regional initiative for the conservation and sustainable use of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS). The development objective of this project is to reverse the degradation of the coastal and marine ecosystems within the Gulf of Honduras by enhancing the prevention and control from maritime transport-related pollution in the major ports and navigation lanes, improving navigational safety to avoid groundings and spills, and reducing land-based sources of pollution draining into the Gulf. The Program’s global objective is the implementation of a regionally coordinated Strategic Action Plan that will result in regional, and by extension global, environmental benefits through protection of international waters, their resources and sustainable use of resources in conformity with the objectives of GEF Operational Program 10 while simultaneously reducing threats to the globally significant Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS).

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A proposed full-size project has been developed within the context of the GEF Operational Program 10 with a GEF PDF-B grant of US$ 295,000 and co-financing of US$ 143,000. The Project Brief, "Reducing Pesticide Runoff to the Caribbean Sea" has been submitted to the GEF May 2002 Council Work Program. Total project financing will be GEF US$ 4.29 million and co-financing US$ 5.63 million. This project will demonstrate reduced pesticide runoff to the Caribbean Sea through improved pesticide management throughout the life cycle of pesticides (from manufacture to application and ultimate fate). Project elements include monitoring and assessment of impact; technology alternatives to intensive pesticide use and management practices to reduce runoff and runoff impact; education and training; development of incentives/institutional strengthening; and information management and dissemination. Demonstration projects will be the means of co-ordinating these various elements and will be the basis from which sustainable and widespread interventions will be developed and implemented in the region. Best management practices, training, monitoring, and other elements tested through the demonstration projects will be documented and widely disseminated to facilitate their adoption in the other countries of the Wider Caribbean and beyond.

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Within the context of the GEF Operational Program 10, and with a GEF PDF-B grant of US$ 330,000 and co-financing of US$ 440,000, a project has been developed entitled "Regional Program of Action and Demonstration of Sustainable Alternatives to DDT for Malaria Vector Control in Mexico and Central America." The Brief has been submitted for inclusion in the GEF May 2002 Council Work Program. Total proposed project financing is GEF US$ 7.165 million and co-financing US$ 3.158 million. The proposed project aims to prevent reintroduction of DDT for malaria control by promoting new integrated vector control techniques and implementing a co-ordinated regional program to improve national capacities. Major project components will be: the implementation of demonstration projects of vector control without DDT or other persistent pesticides that can be replicable in other parts of the world and which are cost-effective, environmentally sound, and sustainable; the strengthening of national and local institutional capacity to control malaria without the use of DDT; and the elimination of DDT stockpiles in the eight participating countries.

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The global objective of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef Project is to enhance protection of the ecologically unique and vulnerable marine ecosystems comprising the MBRS, by assisting the littoral states to strengthen and coordinate national policies, regulations and institutional arrangements for the conservation and sustainable use of this global public good. The GEF Project will, therefore, assist Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras to: (i) strengthen existing MPAs and establish new protected areas in transboundary locations; (ii) develop and implement a standardized regional monitoring and environmental information system for the MBRS; (iii) promote measures to reduce non-sustainable patterns of resource use in the MBRS, focusing initially on the fisheries and tourism sectors; (iv) increase local and national capacity for environmental management through education, information sharing and training; and (v) strengthen and coordinate national policies, regulations, and institutional arrangements for marine ecosystem conservation and sustainable use.

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The objective of the proposed GEF Project is to strengthen Argentina's efforts to reduce pollution of the Patagonia marine environment and improve sustainable management of marine biodiversity by: (i) Improving oil spill prevention and response capacity and preventing ship-based pollution; (ii) Improving the knowledge base about the Patagonia marine environment and its biodiversity; and (iii) Building capacity and promoting regional knowledge sharing for sustainable management of marine resources. The Project's global environmental objective is to support long-term protection of international waters and the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources. This objective will be achieved by financing incremental activities aimed at improving Argentina's capacity to protect marine biodiversity and safeguard Patagonia's marine ecosystem.

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Currently in the final stages of the preparation phase, this project is being executed in collaboration with the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Its main long-term objective is to support the four countries in jointly designing and implementing a common institutional and technical framework for managing and preserving the Guarani Aquifer System. The participating countries have approved the Project Document and the main donor, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has guaranteed its financial support. The OAS/USDE was appointed by the countries as the regional executing agency and the World Bank as the implementing agency. Bilateral negotiations between the countries and the OAS, for which the USDE is responsible for preparing and presenting the Project Implementation Plan (PIP), are in progress. Once the agreements are signed, the Executive Secretary will be contracted and the project secretariat office located in one of the four countries. The execution of the project will be launched at a workshop during August 2002.

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This project will establish a collaborative framework for addressing transboundary degradation in the Rio de la Plata and its Maritime Front, part of the Southeast South American Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem. Fed by the vast La Plata Basin, the system is also influenced by the Brazil - Malvinas currents which meet in the Maritime Front. The waterbody contains globally significant biodiversity, and supports a number of economic activities, including commercial fisheries, tourism, and transportation. It is increasingly being degraded by point and non-point source pollution, including from hydro-carbons, heavy metals and other industrial wastes, agro-chemicals, and solid wastes, and is also being affected by channelisation, sedimentation and habitat degradation. Many of the main fisheries are subject to an intense exploitation and have reached their maximum sustainable yields. Argentina and Uruguay, the riparian countries, are taking a number of steps to address these problems as part of their national sustainable development baselines. However, despite moves to develop a joint management framework for the waterbody, there is little complementarily between these respective efforts, which focus on coastal rather than deeper waters. This has a sizeable external cost, degrading the integrity of the waterbody, undermining economic sectors, affecting human health, and eroding global conservation benefits. The project will contribute to the mitigation of current and emergent transboundary threats to the waterbody by assisting Argentina and Uruguay to prepare a Strategic Action Programme as a framework for addressing the most imminent transboundary issues. Activities would defray the transactions costs of developing a joint management paradigm, by 1) raising awareness of priority transboundary concerns, 2) the catalysing of enabling policy, institutional and financial reforms, 3) strengthening stakeholder communications, 4) identifying innovative management tools that may later be applied towards SAP implementation, including economic instruments, 5) training resource managers to prepare and implement the SAP, 6) programming targeted investments, and 6) supporting "deal flows" by matching sources of capital with investment opportunities. Preparation of the SAP would be preceded by finalisation of a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA), building on assessments already completed during the Block B stage, by prioritising issues, filling data gaps, and performing an in depth systems analysis of cause/effect variables, including socio-economic and ecological factors.

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This project catalyses implementation of a detailed watershed management program for the Pantanal and the Upper Paraguay River Basin. Project activities will enhance and restore the environmental functioning of the system; provide protection to endemic species within the wetland; and implement strategic activities identified in the Plan for the Conservation of the Upper Paraguay River Basin (PCBAP) that address the root causes of degradation. These actions with incremental costs will complement basin-scale interventions by the Government of Brazil, financed in part from national and state sources and by international loan funding, and sub-basin scale activities, many of which address expected baseline activities. Strengthening of basin institutions, building of agency and organizational capacity, and integration of environmental concerns into economic development activities on a sustainable basis are the key elements of this project. The project activities are designed to catalyse implementation of actions necessary to address the conservation of a wetland of global significance identified during the PCBAP program and elaborated in the issues identified during the PDF-B project activities. The project activities are designed to implement the WMP for the UPRB, and are concentrated in six principal components as set forth below. * COMPONENT I: WATER QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION. The objective of Component I is to quantify specific priority issues of concern, generally identified in PCBAP. This component is essential for the development and implementation of the remedial measures set forth in the subsequent components of the project. * COMPONENT II: CONSERVATION OF THE PANTANAL: PCBAP recommended the creation of conservation units within the Pantanal as a means of preserving the best remaining areas of natural habitat within the region. Units of this type have been established and implemented in the State of Mato Grosso. The objective of Component II is to refine these units and expand their usage to the State of Mato Grosso do Sul. * COMPONENT III: LAND DEGRADATION. Component III addresses cross-cutting issues, which relate specifically to land and water management activities designed to protect and/or rehabilitate critical areas within the Basin. Building upon Component I above, the objective of Component II is to implement community-based land management through the identification and demonstration of environmentally-sound practices within the agricultural, mining and urban economic sectors. * COMPONENT IV: STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. The objective of Component IV is to involve the Basin communities in practical, "hands on" type involvement in the identification and demonstration of remedial measures, as well as in a dialogue process. Experiences in environmentally sustainable economic growth identified in Components I through III above will be transferred to the public at large. * COMPONENT V: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT. Component V is designed to strengthen and improve institutional and staffing capabilities. The objective of Component V is to implement new laws, regulations, and procedures necessary for the longer-term success of the watershed management measures and embodied in federal law 9433/97. This component will help to increase participation in decision-making within the basin, and enhance the ability of the Basin Committee to carry out its mandate. * COMPONENT VI: INTEGRATED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION. The objective of Component VI is to synthesize the data and experiences, feasibility assessments and cost analyses developed in the five preceding components. The activities explicitly provide for the cooperative refinement and implementation of the comprehensive WMP by both the public and private sectors, based on a multi-sectoral, holistic approach to environmental management and economic development in this Basin, as provided for in Chapter 18 of Agenda 21 and federal law 9433/97, in representative sub-basins of the Upper Paraguay River, and the extension of this experience to the entire UPRB.

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General Information:

The San Juan River Basin and its coastal zone, encompassing the subbasins of Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River, extends through southeastern Nicaragua and northeastern Costa Rica to the Caribbean Sea linking ecosystems that are particularly valuable for their biodiversity and economic potential. The Strategic Action Programme (SAP) formulated under this project will contribute to the conservation of natural ecosystems and to social and economic development in order to satisfy present and future demands minimizing water conflicts. The major components of the SAP formulation include: i) the strengthening of a basin-wide information system that provides the mechanisms for gathering and dissemination of data adequate to the needs of decision-making for the integrated management of the basin; ii) the creation of a well-coordinated bilateral planning process for the SJRB; iii) the implementation of a public participation process; iv) the strengthening of public institutions and private organizations; and v) the formulation and implementation of environmental education activities. Its execution is expected to bring both local and global benefits, such as conservation of the water cycle, the preservation of major water bodies and of the region?s biodiversity, and the protection of extensive carbon sinks. The Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA), carried out with the active participation of key stakeholders during the PDF-Block B phase, pointed to a number of current and emerging problems that threaten the sustainability of development in the San Juan River Basin and ultimately the quality of life of the people who live there. These transboundary environmental problems often have common roots and manifest themselves both individually and collectively. They are closely interrelated, but in the interest of seeking solutions they have been broken down as follows: accelerating degradation of transboundary ecosystems, overexploitation of valuable natural resources, soil degradation and increasing sedimentation, pollution of water bodies and high vulnerability to natural hazards. The principal root causes of these major environmental problems are as follows: inadequate planning and management, weak institutions, insufficient human and institutional capacity, limited stakeholder participation, and extreme poverty. The SAP will layout a series of measures to reduce and/or eliminate current and emerging problems affecting the conservation and development of the SJRB. It will enhance the transboundary and global benefits obtained when development is both integrated and participatory, and when environmental education, technology transfer, and institutional strengthening are key elements of a program. The SAP will address priority transboundary needs and focus on long-term solutions to the current and emerging problems facing the SJRB. Furthermore, it will propose a series of projects based on experience gathered from demonstrations of new technologies, taking into account their real costs and the capacity of the institutions and organizations involved to execute them. The execution of the SJRB project also contributes to the implementation of the priorities set by the Central American Presidents. These include a variety of economic goals, such as the development of border areas, the conservation of natural resources, and the protection of biodiversity, with specific reference to strengthening the Meso-American Biological Corridor, achieving sustainable use of water resources, and protecting the integrity of drainage basins. It will further contribute to the Action Plan for Integrated Water Resources Management of the Central American Isthmus (PACADIRH), which is being implemented by the Central American Committee on Water Resources (CRRH) as Technical Secretariat of the Water Group created by the System for Central American Integration (SICA) in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in October of 1998.

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The maritime countries of East Asia hold one-third of the world's population, more than half of whom live in the coastal zone. Diversification and intensification of economic activities to meet growing demands for food, employment, and shelter have placed tremendous pressures on coastal and adjacent marine environments. As a result, the coastal waters of the region have become contaminated by untreated sewage, industrial effluents, oils, pesticides, and hazardous wastes from land- and sea-based activities. The increasing volume of shipping traffic into and within the region has led to dumping at sea and oil and chemical spills, which have attracted wide media coverage and public attention. The general public now perceives shipping accidents as seriously threatening the livelihoods of coastal populations. The major land-based issues affecting marine resources include proliferation of poorly planned urban centres, mismanagement of coastal forests, and unregulated development of inefficient and polluting industries. Unfortunately, many countries in the region lack the financial resources and technical and managerial capabilities to plan, implement, and manage programs to address marine pollution problems within their jurisdictions. The Project: This GEF/UNDP project, implemented by the International Maritime Organization, has been assisting participating countries in managing East Asia's transboundary marine pollution problem. A regional approach was necessary because East Asian countries have previously managed this common marine resource with a range of water quality standards, pollution regulations, and national development plans. A fundamental strategy of the project is to demonstrate the effectiveness and modalities of integrated coastal management in tackling marine pollution from land-based sources. This decision making framework and management process involves all major stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, local communities, and scientific and educational institutions. It also incorporates measures to prevent and mitigate adverse impacts on coastal and marine ecosystems into stakeholder planning and operational activities. The project is providing key stakeholders a better appreciation of the social and economic opportunities resulting from marine pollution initiatives and the costs and benefits of partnerships between government and the private sector. Activities/ Progress: The project is developing: An integrated management framework for land- and sea-based sources of marine pollution Working models on prevention and mitigation of marine pollution from land-based activities Capacity building at local and national levels through hands-on experience, practical training programs, technology transfer, and information dissemination Harmonization of pollution monitoring and analytical measurement techniques Networking among national scientific institutions, research centres, and organizations involved in marine and coastal monitoring activities for sharing of information on the coastal and marine environment of the East Asian seas Networking of public and private institutions in the region on the legal aspects of marine pollution, status of national regulations, and implementation of international conventions Public-private partnerships as financial mechanisms to sustain local, national, and regional marine pollution programs. By 1996 the project had launched integrated coastal management programs at Batangas Bay in the Philippines and Xiamen in China. Both are demonstrating successful management of local coastal and marine activities and will function beyond the life of the project. The project has also assisted the littoral states of the Malacca Straits to (a) identify existing and potential pollution risks to the coastal and marine environment of the straits, (b) strengthen surveillance and regulatory mechanisms and instruments for managing pollution in the straits, and (c) package their approaches, methods, and experience for use in other subregions with similar issues. The project has also succeeded in attracting more than US$7 million in cofunding and other sponsorship arrangements. Benefits: The project will: Reduce coastal and marine pollution in East Asia Strengthen capacity of government and institutions Contribute to protection of human health in coastal populations Serve as a model for replication elsewhere in East Asia.