Sustainable environmental
& social governance
and the protection of marine ecosystems

Systems analysis, research, and reporting

  • Environmental law in Latin America
    and the Caribbean
  • Integrated coastal zone management
  • Environmental compliance & enforcement
  • Marine protected areas
  • Marine- and land-based sources
    of pollution
Caribbean coral reef legislation

Overview
Tuckerman Reef began as a resource on the crisis facing coral reefs worldwide as a result of climate change, pollution, and other anthropogenic causes, as well as cureent approaches for restoring and rehabilitating coral reefs. The site now aims to provide more expansive information that encompasses an overview of the laws, policies, and key government and nongovernment actors that play a role in protecting marine and terrestrial ecosystems, while helping to advance environmentally and socially sustainable national development goals.

Consulting services
Gunnar Baldwin, Jr. is a consultant with a practice in international environmental governance and sustainable development. His work focuses primarily on regulatory compliance and enforcement issues in connection with licenses and permits that arise from the environmental and social impact assessment (EsIA) process in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. The majority of his work has been performed on behalf of international organizations as a member of a consulting team. Gunnar is also a member of the bar in New York and the District of Colombia.

Regulation of coastal zone development in Latin America and the Caribbean
In many heavily populated coastal areas around the world, the concentration of high-impact, economically vital human activities in close proximity to fragile ecosystems poses significant governance challenges. These hotspots involve the convergence of a large variety of sectors and uses, stakeholders, government authorities, natural resources, impacts, and interrelationships within relatively small geographic areas.

Although planning and management disciplines such as Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) are being used in some parts of the world, the blueprints emerging from such tools are often imperfectly realized in practice. However, the combined impacts of climate change and a range of localized ecological stressors is increasingly providing the impetus for positive change.