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| Clean Caribbean Coalition | |
|---|---|
| Name | Clean Caribbean Coalition |
| Formation | 2015 |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Headquarters | Bridgetown, Barbados |
| Region served | Caribbean |
| Leader title | Executive Director |
| Leader name | Maria Alvarez |
Clean Caribbean Coalition is a regional nonprofit alliance focused on reducing plastic pollution and improving waste management across the Caribbean. The Coalition works with island governments, municipal authorities, research institutes, port authorities, and community groups to design policy, implement cleanup campaigns, and support circular economy initiatives. Its activities connect with regional bodies, academic centers, and international funders to address marine debris, coastal resilience, and sustainable tourism.
The Coalition was established in 2015 following consultations among environmental NGOs, representatives from the Caribbean Community, and technical experts from the United Nations Environment Programme. Early founding meetings included delegates from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, municipal leaders from Kingston, Jamaica and Port of Spain, and researchers affiliated with the University of the West Indies. Initial pilot programs drew on precedents such as the Global Partnership on Marine Litter and lessons from national bans exemplified by policies in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. Over its first decade the Coalition expanded from a secretariat-based model to a multi-stakeholder network engaging coastal municipalities across Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia, and the Bahamas.
The Coalition aims to prevent marine plastic pollution, promote circular waste management, and strengthen coastal ecosystem resilience. Core objectives include supporting legislation inspired by models like the Basel Convention amendments, facilitating capacity building with institutions such as the Caribbean Public Health Agency, and advancing science-policy interfaces similar to work undertaken by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Specific goals target single-use plastic reduction, improved landfill standards akin to reforms in Curaçao, and expansion of community-based recycling programs modeled after initiatives in Puerto Rico.
The Coalition operates as a membership-based network with a small regional secretariat located in Bridgetown and advisory committees composed of representatives from regional organizations and academic partners. Governance includes a rotating steering committee with seats for municipal authorities from Kingston, Jamaica and Castries, Saint Lucia, NGO representatives from groups active in Haiti and Belize, and technical advisors seconded from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation and university partners like McGill University for marine science collaboration. Membership categories span municipal members, NGO partners, private-sector sponsors including port operators in Port of Spain, and research institutions such as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography when engaged in Caribbean projects.
Flagship programs include region-wide beach cleanup campaigns coordinated with national tourism ministries and port authorities, a plastics-to-products social enterprise incubator inspired by pilots in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, and a scientific monitoring initiative that partners with laboratories at the University of the West Indies and the Smithsonian Institution for microplastic sampling. The Coalition runs legislative support clinics that assist parliamentarians drafting bans modeled after examples in Rwanda and supports community education campaigns with civil society groups active in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It also manages pilot extended producer responsibility schemes in collaboration with packaging manufacturers and distributor associations from Guyana and Suriname.
The Coalition maintains formal partnerships with regional bodies such as the Caribbean Development Bank and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency for resilience programming. International collaborators include the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and technical partners like the Pew Charitable Trusts for policy research. Academic collaborations involve the University of Miami Rosenstiel School, the Monash University plastics research group, and fieldwork cooperation with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The Coalition also coordinates with industry groups including port authorities represented at the Caribbean Shipping Association and tourism stakeholders from the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association.
Achievements include supporting passage of single-use plastic regulations in multiple jurisdictions, establishing a regional debris-monitoring protocol adopted by national agencies, and scaling community recycling enterprises that created livelihoods in several islands. The Coalition’s data contributed to reports produced with the United Nations Environment Programme and informed funding decisions by the Global Environment Facility. Beach cleanup events organized in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and local NGOs removed thousands of kilograms of debris and generated datasets used by researchers at the University of the West Indies and Duke University for studies on marine litter pathways.
Funding sources include grants from multilateral institutions such as the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund, project support from bilateral donors including agencies aligned with USAID and the European Commission, and private philanthropy from foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation. The Coalition maintains a transparent budget overseen by an independent finance committee and issues audited statements to members. Revenue streams combine restricted project grants, unrestricted core funding from donor partnerships, and fee-for-service contracts for technical assistance provided to municipal and port clients.
Category:Environmental organizations Category:Marine conservation organizations