the activity.” 77 130. The obligation to make an environmental impact assessment – that examines potential national and transboundary harm – is established not only in customary law embodied in general international law, but also in the conventions to which the coastal States of the Wider Caribbean Region are party and that regulate everything relating to the protection of the environment. 131. As mentioned in the preceding chapters, an example of this is the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region to which coastal States of the Caribbean Sea and Colombia are parties. In this regard, the preamble states that the Contracting Parties are: “Conscious of their responsibility to protect the marine environment of the wider Caribbean region for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.” 132. The Convention establishes diverse obligations, including that of assessing the potential harmful effects of any project that could have an impact on the marine environment of the Caribbean and on present and future generations in order to take measures to prevent its pollution or other harmful changes (Art. 12(2)); the obligation to develop procedures to share information on this assessment (Art. 12(3)), and the obligation to take all appropriate measures to prevent, reduce and control marine pollution in the Wider Caribbean Region (Art. 4(1) and (3); Art. 7 and Art. 12(1)). The obligation to make prior assessments so “as to prevent or minimize harmful impacts on the Convention area” (Art. 12(l)), as regards potential impacts on the marine environment of the Caribbean is expressly established in Article 12(2) of this instrument as follows: “Each Contracting Party shall assess within its capabilities, or ensure the assessment of, the potential effects of such projects on the marine environment, particularly in coastal areas, so that appropriate measures may be taken to prevent any substantial pollution of, or significant and harmful changes to, the Convention area.” 133. Additionally, article 14 of the Convention on Biological Diversity establishes the obligation of each State party to “introduce appropriate procedures requiring environmental impact assessment of its proposed projects that are likely to have significant adverse effects on biological diversity with a view to avoiding or minimizing such effects.” 134. In keeping with the above, the obligation to make a prior and effective environmental impact assessment – that examines possible national and transboundary effects – arises from customary international law as well as from the applicable treaty-based law, specifically in the Wider Caribbean Region. 135. The importance of environmental impact assessments has also been recognized under international human rights law. Indeed, in its case law, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 77 Ibid, p. 57, para. 153. 60