Diritto ambientale e governance nei mari regionali: il caso del Mar dei Caraibi (Environmental Law and Governance in the Regional Seas: The Caribbean Case)

For a book to be published next year we are in the process of evaluating comprehensively efforts at marine governance in the regional seas. One of those seas, The Wider Caribbean Region encompasses the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the adjacent bays and marine areas. It is host to important natural resources, biodiversity, and ecosystems but is in a state of severe environmental decline. In the region, major contributors to damage are agriculture, industry, and mining runoff as well as negative impacts from tourism, forestry, and fisheries. To reduce impact and improve conditions, an environmental cluster is loosely governing the region. The cluster includes international, regional, national, and local agencies, laws, policies, and actions. Within the cluster, there are aligned motivations for protection of natural resources in the Wider Caribbean but timeframes, funding, and jurisdictional conflict prevent further progress. Here we lay out the environmentally relevant background of that region and describe the cluster of law and policy initiatives that have been undertaken to manage this sea