United Nations Environment Programme
Topic A- Protection of Endangered Species
BACKGROUND
UNEP wishes to raise awareness and protect animals through its programs. The programs
are intended to “Build consensus in the region on priorities for the conservation and
management of threatened and endangered species, including migratory species, as well as
those species not yet threatened but requiring action to prevent them from being
threatened and endangered. Implement priority activities of existing species recovery and
management plans developed under the framework of SPAW. Develop, as appropriate,
adequate management plans and programmes for priority species of regional concern,
including those of economic importance; and Address the growing threat of invasive alien
species (IAS) that could negatively impact on SPAW species and WCR habitats, especially
marine or coastal IAS.” Currently they are focusing one these species: Marine Mammals, Sea
Turtles, Birds, and Invasive Alien Species (IAS).
For Marine Mammals the goal of the UNEP is “aiming to manage human interactions
and use, as well as protect marine mammal species including whales, manatees and
dolphins. The central goal is to generate knowledge and consensus among governments on
which to base their policies for marine mammal conservation. Activities include capacity
building and education, policy formulation, regulatory and protective measures, scientific
research, improving laws and their application and public awareness.” The issues range
from climate change to fishery interactions to captivity. UNEP wants to make people more
knowledgeable about the marine species by creating series of workshops and classes.
Workshops like, “Planning a regional workshop on contaminants and pollutants harmful to
marine mammal health”, to educate the young and old on what harms these creatures and
that conservation is important. Currently SPAW has a project called Protecting Habitats
and Migration Corridors for Marine Mammals in the South and Northeast Pacific and the
Wider Caribbean through Marine Protected Area Networks (LifeWeb Project). “The goal of
the project, funded by the Government of Spain, was to contribute towards the
establishment of a comprehensive, effectively managed and ecologically representative
regional system of MPAs for the conservation of marine mammals in Latin America and the
Caribbean and through the application of an Ecosystem Based Management approach and
spatial planning.”
For turtles “In collaboration with the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation
Network (WIDECAST), the conservation of sea turtles is primarily accomplished through
the development of, and by providing support for the implementation of Sea Turtle
Recovery Action Plans (STRAPs).” And later wish to include monitoring of sea turtles and
their migration patterns. For birds “in collaboration with the Society for the Conservation
and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB), BirdLife International and SPAW RAC, activities
aimed at protecting the avian population include:
Continuing to support the capacity-building efforts on monitoring, conservation and
management of endangered water bird species through training activities and education;
Supporting cooperation to promote Important Bird Areas and examine linkages between
the conservation status of bird species and their inclusion in SPAW Annexes; and exploring
collaborations on the development and implementation of action plans for threatened bird
species.” And for stopping IAS which could contribute to endangered species their plans to
inhibit the spread is, “Article 12 of the SPAW Protocol addresses the topic of Invasive Alien
Species and states that all appropriate measures will be taken to regulate or prohibit
intentional or accidental introduction of non-indigenous or genetically altered species to
the wild that may cause harmful impacts to the natural flora, fauna, or other features of the
WCR. This has been a growing area of involvement for the SPAW sub-programme since IAS
represents an increasing threat to marine and coastal species and their ecosystems.”
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1. How can the UNEP reach their goals?
2. How does pollution effect marine life?
3. What more could be done to protect the endangered species?
4. Why should wildlife be conserved?
FURHTER INFORMATION
http://www.cep.unep.org/content/about-cep/spaw/conservation-of-threatened-andendangered-species