The Sandwatch Project The Sandwatch beach monitoring programme, within the framework of the ASPnet Caribbean Sea Project, is currently entering its second phase.

Objectives: reduce the level of pollution in the Caribbean Sea. train schoolchildren in the scientific observation of beaches through field measurements and data analysis and assist schoolchildren, with the help of local communities, to use the information collected to better manage the region’s beaches. Activities: An “Adopt-a-Beach” programme, tree planting and other anti-erosion measures, awareness-raising and media campaigns were among proposals retained at the Second Regional Sandwatch Workshop, held on 7 - 9 July 2003 in Portsmouth, Dominica. Hosted by the Dominica National Commission for UNESCO, it brought the Pacific and the Indian Oceans to the Caribbean. ASPnet teachers from 12 Caribbean countries were joined by representatives of the Cook Islands and Palau (Pacific) and the Seychelles (Indian Ocean), helped by UNESCO’s Programme Environment and Development in Coastal Regions and Small Islands (CSI). The results of the beach monitoring undertaken during Phase 1 of the Sandwatch project were presented and discussed and Phase 2 of Sandwatch was planned and prepared. Participating countries: Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica Grenada, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Haiti and St. Lucia