c/EPA UNEP unuea siaies Environmental Protection Agency Mumuiisuduun miiu Resources Management (PM-211A) UliUbU l^dllU! id Environment Programme Volume 3, Number 1 December 1993 EPA/220/N-93-035 CARIBBEAN CURRENTS Welcome.., „.to Caribbean Currents, Volume Three, Number One. This quarterly newsletter is assembled by INFQTERRA/USA in its capacity as the Regional Service Centre (JRSC) for INFOTEHRA. National Focal Points (NFPs) in the English and French-speaking Caribbean. Although the Currents is assembled at INFOTHRRA/USA/ the content belongs to you,, the readers. You are encouraged to send in any questions, comments, problems, or interesting issues relevant to the Region for inclusion in the Currents, Please see the Guidelines for Contributions, below, for more information. Each issue will also feature a Directory of NFPs in the Region so that anyone with international environmental questions can contact their nearest resource. Please feci free to contact one another as well as your RSC for assistance or Also, please feel free to share Caribbean Currents with your friends and colleagues. The Currents should serve as an informational forum for anyone who lives, works, or is involved in the English and French-speaking Caribbean Guidelines for Contributions to Caribbean Currents Any organization or individual operating or involved in the English and French-speaking Caribbean Region is welcome to contribute to the content of the newsletter. Please note that submissions should meet the following criteria: • They should be relevant to environmental issues • They must be of interest to or directly involve the Region • They must not endorse or recommend any product or commercial service either explicitly or implicitly • They must be brief-preferably under 250 words; Bulletin Board (see page 3) requests should be kept under 100 words • They must be received by the posted deadline (see below) Please feel free to contact the Caribbean Currents coordinator if you are interested in submitting a longer article. You should contact the coordinator to discuss your topic and any size or content restrictions beforehand. Be aware that once your article is submitted, it is subject to editing as needed. Final decisions on editing and inclusion of any contributions are left to the INFOTERRA/USA Manager. Please contact INFOTERRA/USA using the information on page 4 to contribute any comments, questions, problems, or ideas. DEADLINE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO Vol. 3, No. 2: February 7,1994. ------- (r ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AND AGREEMENTS One of the most frequently requested and most difficult to find types of international environmental information is the category of environmental law. The laws and regulations of each country are compiled in many different ways. The sources for distribution and availability of laws and regulations can sometimes be difficult to find in one's own country, and even more difficult to obtain from some other government. At INFOTERRA/USA, we receive dozens of requests for information on laws and regulations of countries around the world. Locating this information can be both time-consuming and frustrating. To simplify the process, we have compiled lists of resources which can provide copies of laws from many countries to any requestor. Most of these sources charge for their services. In many cases, however, requestors do not mind paying for the information, they simply do not know who can provide it. U.S. Environmental Regulations In the United States, all Federal Regulations, proposed, final, and commentary, are published each business day in the Federal Register. They are then compiled annually in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations or CFR. Title 40 of the CFR, currently comprised of 15 volumes, contains the regulations related to Protection of the Environment. Subscriptions to and copies of individual issues/ volumes of the Federal Register and CFR are available directly from the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). Interested parties can contact GPO directly at: Superintendent of Documents, GPO Washington, DC 20402 U.S.A. TELEPHONE: (202)783-3238 FAX: (202)512-2550 INFOTERRA/USA has a complete list of the volumes included in Title 40 CFR with the ordering prices. We would be happy to share this list with anyone in the Region. Please contact us using the directory information on page 4. We also have a list of key U.S. environmental legislation. This includes Congressional Acts such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. If you would like a copy of this list, which includes brief descriptions of the Acts and information on requesting copies of each Act, please feel free to Request it. International Laws You may also be interested in books which compile environmental laws from around the world. A selection of very useful reference books on this topic is listed below. Although none of these books includes every law or every country, they are excellent resources for identifying some of the key environmental legislation around the world. Clean Air Around the World, Second Edition. International Union of Air Pollution Prevention Associations, 1991. Available from the publisher in London, UK International Environmental Law and Regulation. Shickman, McMahon, van Riel. Butterworth Legal Publishers, 1991. Available from the publisher International Environmental Law, Special Report Government Institutes, Inc., 1992. Available from the publisher Status of Multilateral Treaties in the Field of Environment and Conservation, Third Edition. World Conservation Union (IUCN), 1993. Available from the publisher in Gland, Switzerland Yearbook of International Environmental Law, Vol. 1-3. Gunther Handl. Graham & Trotman/Nijhof, 1991,1992,1993. Available from Kluwer Academic Publishers —compiled by INFOTERRA/USA Reference Staff % What You Can Do... Do you know of any resources for international environmental law? How are copies of laws and regulations distributed in your country? If you have any suggestions, comments, questions, or other input, please let us know! Send your information to CARIBBEAN CURRENTS care of INFOTERRA/USA, using the information on page 4. All the information submitted by the deadline for next issue (see page 1) will be compiled in a list of environmental law sources to help everyone in the Region. Thanks for your help! -2- ------- Welcome to The Caribbean Currents Bulletin Board. Each issue/ we will publish questions or concerns of interest to Currents readers. Anyone who has materials or information that they feel will be helpful should feel free to respond. You may either respond directly to the reader who has placed the item, or send the materials to INFOTERRA/USA for forwarding. Publications Available INFOTERRA/USA, in its role as the Regional Service Centre for the English and French-speaking Caribbean, has several general interest environmental publications available for distribution. Any reader in the Region is welcome to request these documents. TITLES: Chemicals In Your Community: A Guide to the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act Environmental Technology Sources: Matching Solutions to Problems EPA's Pesticide Programs Protecting Coastal and Wetlands Resources: A Guide for Local Governments Terms of Environment: Glossary, Abbreviations, and Acronyms Please note that there may be a limited number of each title available, and they will be distributed on an as-requested basis. Send your requests to INFOTERRA/USA using the contact information on page 4. INFOTERRA/USA Seeks Information Assistance The INFOTERRA NFP for the United States receives numerous requests for information on the topic of Coastal Zone Management (CZM). We are hoping to expand our collection of materials on this topic to. better serve our audience. If you have any materials on this topic that you can share, we would be veiy glad to receive them. Also, if anyone is aware of particularly useful resources on CZM that we can purchase, we would appreciate any citations and ordering information you can provide. Please send any available information or materials to INFOTERRA/USA at the address listed in the directory on page 4. Send your Bulletins to the RSC for publication in the next issue. See the Directory on page 4 for information on submitting items. -3- ------- About the NFP Directory This directory reflects changes and additions to the INFOTERRA Directory of National Focal Points distributed by INFOTERRA/PAC, dated April 1993. Please check this information to verify that it is correct and up-to-date. If you have any changes or corrections, please notify the RSC as soon as possible. We will be happy to relay the information to the PAC. | NFP DIRECTORY ] Dr. Donald Cooper Marguerite Blemur Department of Environmental Health Services Ministere de l'Agriculture et des Resources Naturelles P.O. Box N-3729 et du Developpement Rural Nassau, THE BAHAMAS P.O. Box 1441 Telephone: (809) 322-4908 FAX: (809) 322-3607 Port-au-Prince, HAITI Telephone: 509-22-1867 FAX: 509-22-3599 Vernese Innlss Administrative Officer (Environment) Jeanetta Phillips Ministry of Labour. Consumer Affairs and Natural Resources Conservation DMson the Environment Ministry of Tourism & the Environment Marine House, Hastings 53 1/2 Molynes Road, P.O. Box 305 St. Michael, 29. BARBADOS Kingston 10, JAMAICA Telephone: (809) 426-8999 FAX: (809) 426-8959 Telephone: (809) 923-5155/5125 FAX: (809) 923-5070 Jaime Villanueva Vanesta Moses-Felix Fisheries Department Government Documentalist Princess Margaret Drive Ministry of Planning, Personnel, P.O. Box 148 Establishment, and Training Belize City. BELIZE Documentation Center Telephone: 501-2-44552 FAX: 501-2-32983 P.O. Box 709 Castries, ST. LUCIA Telephone: (809) 453-2005 FAX: (809) 453-2506 Mr. Felix Gregoire Forestiy and Wildlife Division Ministry of Agriculture, Botanical Gardens Regional Service Centre (RSC): Roseau, DOMINICA Emma J. McNamara Telephone: (809)448-2401 FAX: (809)448-7999 INFOTERRA/USA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters Library Mavis Taylor Room 2904, PM-211A INFOTERRA Director 401 M Street, S.W. c/o UNDP Washington, D. C. 20460, USA P.O. Box 10960 Telephone: (202) 260-5917 FAX: (202) 260-3923 Georgetown, GUYANA FAX: 592-2 62942 : J) -4- ------- |