The Caribbean Sea Project (CSP) Like its sister projects such as the Baltic Sea Project, the Blue Danube River Project, and the Western Mediterranean Sea Project, the CSP promotes both environmental awareness and intercultural learning. Launched in 1994 in Trinidad and Tobago with a few Caribbean countries, today the Project involves some 17 countries and includes a special Sandwatch Project, designed in cooperation with the Science Sector, whereby Associated Schools play an active role in helping to reduce the pollution of the Caribbean Sea by conducting research, monitoring and protecting the coastal zones, beaches, flora and fauna, etc. CSP resource material for teachers, entitled Glimpses of the Caribbean Sea, has been produced and diffused.

Objectives: To focus on heightening young people's effective response to the marine environment as a pre-requisite for their positive action and to enable them to learn about the rich cultural diversity of the region and Caribbean culture. Activities: Materials have been produced to support the work of teachers, and in July 1998, the First CSP Environmental Education Workshop for Teachers and Students was conducted on the theme of "The Caribbean Sea - A Vital Resource". The Workshop had a strong focus on coral reefs, mangroves and see grasses as habitats which need to be preserved and protected. A future thrust will be the strengthening of science and technology component by providing students opportunities to organize problem solving and research activities. A new initiative entitled the "Sandwatch Project" is currently underway and aims to: a)reduce the level of pollution in the Caribbean Sea. b)train schoolchildren in the scientific observation of beaches through field measurements and data analysis and c)assist schoolchildren, with the help of local communities, to use the information collected to better manage the region’s beaches. 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