At the meeting of the OSPAR Commission, held from 24 to 28 June 2013 in Gothenburg, Sweden, the sixteen Contracting Parties to the OSPAR Convention agreed on several new and innovative measures for the protection of the ecosystems of the North East Atlantic from human activities.
More specifically the OSPAR Commission agreed the following:
• Areas of ecological or scientific interest in the high seas to be proposed as submissions to the Convention on Biodiversity, working together with the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission;
• A first set of Common indicators to assess the status of the North East Atlantic and its subregions. This is a step forward in coordinating and extending marine monitoring within the OSPAR area, as also required by the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive;
• Joint Guidelines with the Helsinki Commission on the granting of Exemptions under the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention to prevent the spread of Non-indigenous species, pending the agreement at the HELCOM Ministerial in October 2013;
• The first regional social and economic analysis of human activities across the entire North East Atlantic;
• To develop by 2014 an ambitious Regional Action Plan to reduce the huge problem of marine litter on our seas and coastlines in the North East Atlantic;
• OSPAR’s Contracting Parties have now achieved 10% coverage of MPAs in the Greater North Sea and are continuing with the ambition to increase this coverage over the wider OSPAR area.
Mr Victor Escobar (Spain), Chairman of the OSPAR Commission said “I am pleased with the agreements we have made at this meeting of the OSPAR Commission. We have expressed our clear intention as OSPAR to expand our connection to the social and economic aspects of activity in our seas. As a real step towards that, we have started our plans for tackling marine litter, an important concern for the economy of our seas, for the environment and for human enjoyment of our seas and coasts. We have also made progress in the complex process of agreeing some common elements to monitoring the state of the marine environment. This will be the basis of improved cooperation, focused within the unique ecology of the seas of the North East Atlantic. OSPAR has not yet been able to adopt a set of measures to protect 23 species and habitats that are at risk in the North East Atlantic, but continues to aim to deliver the Ministerial commitment on this issue, made in Bergen, Norway in 2010” **
Notes
* The OSPAR Convention entered into force on 25 March 1998. It replaced the Oslo Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft, 1972 and the Paris Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Land-Based Sources, 1974. The Convention has been signed and ratified by all of the Contracting Parties to the original Oslo or Paris Conventions (Belgium, Denmark, the European Community, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and by Luxembourg and Switzerland. More than 30 international non-governmental organisations are involved in OSPAR as official Observers.
** The Bergen Statement was adopted at the third Ministerial Meeting of the OSPAR Commission in 2010 in Bergen, Norway. See also MEPIELAN E-Bulletin “NORTH SEA – The results of the OSPAR Ministerial Meeting 2010, News, Thursday, 21 October 2010, available at: http://www.mepielan-ebulletin.gr/default.aspx?pid=18&CategoryId=10&ArticleId=36&Article=NORTH-SEA-%E2%80%93-The-Results-of-the-OSPAR-Ministerial-Meeting-2010
Source: OSPAR Commission
For further information:
http://www.ospar.org/
http://www.ospar.org/content/news_detail.asp?menu=00600725000000_000021_000000
About the author
MEPIELAN Centre
MEPIELAN Centre is an international research, training and educational centre established by Professor Evangelos Raftopoulos at the Panteion University of Athens in 2008.
Before its establishment as a University Centre, MEPIELAN operated as a successful international research, training and informational programme (2002-2007) under the scientific direction of Professor Evangelos Raftopoulos and the aegis of the Panteion University of Athens, supported by the Mediterranean Action Plan/UNEP and the Greek Ministry of the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works.
MEPIELAN Centre is an accredited UNEP/MAP PARTNER (since 2013), a Member of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) (since 2016), and a Member of the Steering Committee of the MCSD (since 2019).
On 22 May 2022, MEPIELAN Centre proceeded to the development of MEPIELAN as a Non- Profit Civil Organization (INGO) for the more effective and efficient advancement of its Goals and Missions and furtherance of its activities. MEPIELAN Centre as a Non- Profit Civil Organization (INGO) is registered in Greek Law (Hellenic Business Registry, Reg. No. 16477300100) in accordance with Laws 4072/2012 & 4919/2022 as applicable
