When the Land Based Sources of Marine Pollution (LBS) Protocol of the Cartagena Convention was adopted in Aruba in 1999, it confirmed the commitment of Governments of the Wider Caribbean Region to protect their fragile coastal and marine resources from land based sources of pollution. The LBS Protocol committed regional Governments to develop and adopt Best Management Practices to reduce non-point sources of pollution, including from inappropriate agricultural practices.

The work of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) on climate change in Africa was initiated as a follow-up to the twelfth session of AMCEN, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 2008, during which ministers underscored the importance of the decision and outcomes of the thirteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the third session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, held in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007, in particular the agreement on the Bali Action Plan, which set 2009 as the end date for negotiations on strengthening the climate regime beyond 2012.

Pursuant to decisions SC-5/7, SC-6/6, SC-7/3 on polychlorinated biphenyls of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the UN Environment Chemicals and Waste Branch has been serving as the PCB Elimination Network Secretariat and undertaking activities to assist the network members and the parties to the Stockholm Convention to fulfil their mandates on this topic. At COP-7, the Secretariat of the PEN was invited to inform the COP at its next meeting regarding activities of the PEN. The following gives an overview of the activities undertaken to date and explains the current status of the PEN.

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