GEF ISLANDS has Initiated a Public Private Partnership Towards Improving Plastic Waste Management in the Cruise Ship Sector in the Dominican Republic
Plastic waste has multiple origins in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including the cruise ship sector, which carries millions of passengers every year around the Caribbean. As part of the GEF ISLANDS Project in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic is taking steps to improve the management of plastics through coordination with the public and private sectors.
Key public sector entities responsible for waste management will be working in close collaboration with Carnival Cruise Line and their Amber Cove Cruise Centre located in Puerto Plata to better understand how the cruise ship sector contributes to the generation of plastic waste and examine how this waste can be processed parallel to municipal waste in an environmentally sound manner.
An inception meeting to officially commence this activity was hosted by the Project’s executing agency, the Basel Convention Regional Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for the Caribbean (BCRC-Caribbean) on 21 March, with representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in the Dominican Republic, Carnival Cruise Line, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership. Additionally, Ms. Deysi Sánchez Zoquier, the activity consultant, presented her work for the next 10 months, which includes an assessment of plastic waste generated at the Amber Cove Cruise Centre, the development of recommendations for the environmentally sound management of that waste within Puerto Plata and the design of a pilot project to test those recommendations. The findings of the pilot project will be documented and used to expand and/or replicate the derived solution.
The BCRC-Caribbean looks forward to working with Ms. Sánchez Zoquier, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Carnival Cruise Line, and other stakeholders to better understand how plastic waste from the cruise ship sector in SIDS can be managed in an environmentally sound manner. We look forward to sharing the findings from this activity with the wider Caribbean and other SIDS around the world.
For more information, please contact Ms. Amara Prevatt at amara.prevatt@bcrc-caribbean.org and Ms. Rachel Ramsey at rachel.ramsey@bcrc-caribbean.org.
About ISLANDS
The Implementing Sustainable Low and Non-Chemical Development in Small Island Developing States (ISLANDS) Programme is a $515-million, five-year initiative backed by the Global Environment Facility (providing $61 million), supporting 33 Small Island Developing States in four regions – the Atlantic, Caribbean, Indian and Pacific to reduce and manage toxic waste in their territories. ISLANDS is led by the United Nations Environment Programme, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the Inter-American Development Bank.
About the UN Environment Programme
The UN Environment Programme is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
About the Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility is the largest multilateral fund working to enable developing countries to invest in nature. It supports the implementation of international environmental conventions on biodiversity, climate change, chemicals, and desertification. Since 1991, it has provided more than $21.7 billion in grants and blended finance and mobilized an additional $119 billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 projects and programmes.
About the BCRC-Caribbean
The BCRC-Caribbean is one of 14 global regional and coordinating centres established under The Basel Convention. The Centre serves 15 Caribbean countries that are Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm, and Minamata Conventions and assists them with implementing their international obligations to manage wastes and chemicals and protect human health and the environment.