On February 18th, 2005, at the Hall of the Americas of the Organization of American States, the Governments of the Parties to the Central America-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) signed the Environmental Cooperation Agreement (ECA). They agreed to “cooperate to protect, improve and conserve the environment, including natural resources”. Chapter 17 of the CAFTA-DR sets out the Parties’ commitment and undertakings regarding environmental protection.

The Environmental Cooperation Program (ECP) is helping the CAFTA-DR countries advance in the following four programmatic areas or themes: (A) Institutional Strengthening for Effective Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Laws; (B) Biodiversity and Conservation; (C) Market-based Conservation; and (D)Improved Private Sector Performance.

The OAS-DSD is assisting the CAFTA-DR countries in evaluating if and how the activities carried out by the countries in the region are contributing towards the achievement of the priorities established by the parties. To date, the OAS-DSD has completed two evaluation reports summarizing the accomplishments of the ECP. The First Evaluation Report consisted of qualitative findings. For the Second Evaluation Report the OAS-DSD worked with stakeholders in developing an evaluation process based on key performance indicators to perform a quantitative data analysis and review issues pertaining to the achievement of results.