Procedure for listing Protected Areas under the SPAW Protocol

The listing of Protected Areas under the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) Protocol, as identified under Article 7 of the Protocol, has been made a priority since 2004 by successive Conferences of Parties. The purpose of this list is to identify those areas that are of particular importance to the Wider Caribbean region, that are to be accorded in priority for scientific and technical research and mutual assistance, as well as to protect the listed areas from activities that would undermine the purposes for which they were listed.

The benefits of inscribing PA’s under SPAW are multiple.

Appropriate guidelines and criteria on the requirements for listing Protected Areas under the SPAW Protocol have been developed by a dedicated working group of experts and adopted in 2008. A reporting format that aims at helping Parties prepare their presentation reports on the Protected Areas was also developed, and approved by SPAW Parties at the 6th SPAW COP in 2010. An invitation was subsequently sent in December, 2011, by the SPAW Secretariat to SPAW Parties so that they can start submit their PAs for listing under SPAW.