The State of the Convention Area (SOCAR)is the fi rst such region-wide assessment undertaken by the Secretariat, and is a baseline assessment of the state of the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) coastal and marine environment with respect to land-based sources (LBS)of pollution. SOCAR’s vision is to be “A major periodic and authoritative regional assessment of the state of the WCR marine environment with respect to LBS (and their ecological and human impacts) that will inform decision-making and stimulate actions and investments to reduce and elimeliminate land-based sources of pollution in the WCR on the longer term.”