Regional UNEP Water and Wastewater Workshop marks Launch of 2008 International Year of Sanitation

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through its Regional Coordinating Unit for the Caribbean Environment Programme (UNEP CAR/RCU) and in collaboration with the International Environmental Technology Centre of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (UNEP-DTIE/IETC) will be convening a Regional Workshop to promote the provision of environmentally sound water and wastewater services at the community level in the Caribbean.

This activity formally marks the launching of the 2008 International Year of Sanitation by the Kingston-based office of UNEP CAR/RCU.

The workshop will be held at the Knutsford Court Hotel, Kingston, Jamaica from 28^th - 29^th November, 2007.>

The objectives of this Workshop are to:

• Assess recent progress in the provision of water and sanitation services at the community level in the Caribbean;
• Discuss priorities for future action in the short, medium and long term;
• Identify additional areas of cooperation between UNEP, participating countries and regional agencies; and
• Promote exchange of experiences and best practices among workshop participants.

Participants are expected to include government representatives from Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Cuba and Panama.  Wastewater experts from the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) and the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) are also expected to attend.

The workshop will benefit specifically from the sharing of experiences from water and wastewater community projects in Jamaica coordinated by various governmental and non-governmental agencies including the Ministry of Water and Housing, Rural Water Programme, Rural Water Supply Limited and the Community Development Resource Centre (CRDC),

According to Programme Officer responsible for pollution prevention at UNEP CAR/RCU, Mr. Chris Corbin “the workshop offers an opportunity to explore new innovative ways to finance small-scale water and sewage projects and to identify more cost-effective solutions to water and wastewater management especially at the community level”.  He added that the “participation of representatives from the Breadnut Community Development Committee, one of the project sites, was important to developing greater community ownership and support to environmental projects in general.”

For further information, please contact UNEP CAR/RCU at 1 876 922 9267-9.