The Plan of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment and Coastal Areas of the Southeast Pacific, approved in 1981 by a Plenipotentiaries Conference, as well as the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Zone of the Southeast Pacific (Convention of Lima) and other complementary agreements, establish the basis for achieving a fructiferous regional cooperation among Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Panama, in order to preserve the marine and coastal environments. Just as it was adopted, this Plan of Action has the same characteristics of the other Regional Seas Programmes that the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, has promoted. The Permanent Commission of the South Pacific (CPPS), which is the appropriate marine organism created in 1952, has been appointed for its regional coordination. The main objective of this regional cooperation mechanism is the protection of the marine environment and the coastal areas, in order to promote health preservation and the welfare of the present and future generations