This week, regional stakeholders convened in Saint Lucia for a high-level conference focused on developing a unified strategy for improved wastewater management under the World Bank’s PROBLUE Initiative.

Gail Richardson, Operations Manager at the World Bank, emphasised the urgency of the issue, warning that continued inaction risks harming both human livelihoods and regional biodiversity.

“Two pillars of the economy, of the economies of the islands of the Caribbean, are, of course, fisheries and tourism. And the status of the wastewater treatment services in the islands has a direct impact. So it's not a topic that we can ignore any longer, and perhaps we've ignored it too long,” said Richardson.

According to her, this initiative seeks to address mounting challenges in sanitation and wastewater treatment, which experts warn have been long overlooked, despite their critical impact on core economic sectors such as tourism and fisheries.

“These challenges that we face have to become the rallying cry for action now,” she said.

The World Bank has identified wastewater management as a top regional priority, with its PROBLUE Initiative aiming to support countries in modernising sanitation systems, mitigating pollution of coastal waters, and protecting marine ecosystems that are essential to Caribbean economies.