Many of us have had the opportunity to visit the Caribbean, either through a scuba trip, a cruise, or from the stories of friends and family who have visited islands in the Caribbean. My images of the Caribbean are of blue water, white sands, and exquisite reef life. It was not until I started reading news articles that I realized my impressions of the Caribbean needed adjustment.

 

The Caribbean Sea is actually the Caribbean corridor. Ships carry not only tourists but billions of barrels of oil, and toxic and nuclear wastes everyday. The Caribbean is not a huge oil producing region but there are a lot of major refineries located in the region. Many in the region have stated it is a miracle that there has not been a major oil spill. There is of course dumping of waste and sewage from cruise ships and there is still agricultural run off which threatens the health of the sea. Many English, Dutch, and Spanish speaking countries rely on the Caribbean. It is vital to their economic growth. That is why on December 20, 2006 the United Nations issued a special resolution.

 

The new resolution is entitled “Towards the Sustainable Development of the Caribbean Sea for present and future generations.” This new resolution allows for the Caribbean Sea to be designated as a Safe Area. This means that there will be monitoring of ship traffic, and ship activity. Unfortunately from what I can see there is not a lot to this resolution. Even the title of the resolution suggests that people on both sides of this debate do not understand what sustainable development is.

 

So what is sustainable development? While many definitions of the term have been introduced over the years, the most commonly cited definition comes from the report Our Common Future, more commonly known as the Brundtland Report, which states that sustainable development is development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. It seems industrialized countries like China, America, and some European countries were concerned with a “Safe Area” designation because it would limit shipping and set a dangerous precedent for similar areas to have the same classification. So it was suggested that discussions center on the idea of sustainable development. How best do we meet the needs of those who use the Caribbean corridor today and those who will need to use the Caribbean corridor in the future?

 

As of the date of this blog, I have not found how the Caribbean countries are planning to manage the natural resource and manage the use of that natural resource for today and future generations. It seems the resolution falls short of any real change but it is a step in the right direction.  I look forward to hearing and sharing more information in the coming months.