CARICOM and the United Nations Environment Program have partnered to raise awareness in the region of the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats.

CARICOM and the UNEP-led Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) Secretariat, are presently hosting a regional capacity-building workshop for CMS Non-Parties of the Caribbean region.

The purpose of the workshop is to raise awareness about the CMS, and will run from Aug. 31 - Sep. 2, in Bridgetown, Barbados. The convention is an environmental treaty under the aegis of UNEP, that provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats. CMS convention brings together the states through which migratory animals pass, the range states, and lays the legal foundation for internationally coordinated conservation measures throughout a migratory range.

The regional capacity-building workshop aims to inform CARICOM countries that are not yet parties to CMS, about the work and goals of the convention.

The workshop is funded by the Program for Capacity-Building Related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements in African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries, known as the ACP-MEAs Program.

The CARICOM Secretariat is the Caribbean Hub of the ACP-MEAs Program which is funded by the European Commission through the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States. UNEP is the overall global program coordinator and facilitator, and the project is being implemented in the Caribbean through the CARICOM Secretariat’s Sustainable Development and Environment Program.

The first phase of the ACP-MEAs program ran from 2009-2014. The current phase is scheduled to run until 2017.