The present document serves as the Financial Rules for the Convention, as described in article 20, paragraph 2 of the Convention. The level of contributions should, at a minimum, guarantee the overall costs of the Secretariat.

At its 21st plenary meeting, held on 16 June 1972, the Conference, having adopted individually all the sections of the report except those giving an account of the action of the Conference on the report of the Credentials Committee, on the Action Plan, and on the report of the Working Group on the Declaration, authorized the Rapporteur General of the Conference to include those sections in the appropriate parts of the report, to make any editorial changes of a technical nature that seemed appropriate, and to ensure that all reservations would be duly reflected in the report. On that understanding, the Conference adopted its report.

The Guidelines and Criteria for the Evaluation of Protected Areas to be listed under the SPAW Protocol were developed by a dedicated working group of experts nominated by the SPAW Contracting Parties, as well as a reporting format that aims to assist Parties to prepare their presentation reports on the Protected Areas

The Conference of Plenipotentiaries to Adopt the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region was held in Oranjestad, Aruba, between 27 September and 6 October 1999, as a result of a decision taken by the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (the Convention) in June 1998 as reflected in UNEP(WATER)/CAR IG.15/7. The Conference was convened by Mr. Nelson Andrade Colmenares, Coordinator of the Regional Coordinating Unit of the Caribbean Environment Programme of the United Nations Environment Programme and was co-hosted by the Government of Aruba (Kingdom of the Netherlands) and the United States of America.