Difference between revisions of "OSPAR Convention (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) and OSPAR Commission"

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*the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
 
*the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  
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===Region I: Arctic Waters===
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Region I is the northern OSPAR region, characterised by harsh climate and ice coverage. Although there is a low population density, human activities such as fishing and offshore petroleum production are relatively important. The ecosystems in Region I are rich, in particular it is one of the most important seabird regions in the world.
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[[Image:Tasiilaq East Greenland.jpg|thumb|right|Tasiilaq East Greenland (Region I)]]
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===Region II: Greater North Sea===
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The Greater North Sea is one of the busiest maritime areas. Offshore activities related to the exploitation of oil and gas reserves, and maritime traffic are very important. Two of the world's largest ports are situated on the North Sea coast, and the coastal zone is used intensively for recreation. The Greater North Sea is surrounded by densely populated, highly industrialised countries.
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[[Image:Seven_Sisters_Cliffs.jpg|thumb|right|Seven Sisters Cliffs, Southern England.jpg (Region II)]]
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===Region III: Celtic Seas===
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The Celtic Seas region contains wide variations in coastal topography, from fjordic sea lochs, to sand dunes, bays, estuaries and numerous sandy beaches. The large range of habitats in the region supports a diverse fish fauna. Although traditional maritime activities, such as fishing, take place in the Celtic seas, there is ongoing development of tourism.
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[[Image:Cliffs_of_Moher.jpg|thumb|Cliffs of Moher, western Ireland (Region III)]]
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===Region IV: Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast===
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The bottom topography of Region IV and coastlines are highly diversified, including the continental shelf and slope and parts of the abyssal plain. Ecosystems in Region IV are very rich, support a rich fish fauna and have a particular importance for migratory birds. Main human activities in region IV are fishing, maritime transport and tourism.
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[[Image:cabo_vidio.jpg|thumb|Cabo Vidio, Asturias, Spain (Region IV)]]
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===Region V: Wider Atlantic===
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Region V represents the deep waters of the North-East Atlantic extending across the abyssal plain and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and including many seamounts. There have been recent discoveries of a number of different fragile deep-sea habitats (such as hydrothermal vents, carbonate mounds, coral gardens and sponge communities).  Human population in the region is restricted to the Azores Archipelago. The main human activities are fishing and maritime transport.
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[[Image:Azores,_Portugal.jpg|thumb|right|Azores, Portugal (Region V)]]
  
 
== The Convention ==
 
== The Convention ==

Revision as of 09:18, 7 August 2012

Figure 1: Official logo of OSPAR
The OSPAR Commission is the body that manages the work under the 1992 OSPAR Convention. This Convention guides international cooperation on the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.


The North-East Atlantic

This is defined as extending westwards to the east coast of Greenland, eastwards to the continental North Sea coast, south to the Strait of Gibraltar and northwards to the North Pole (see Figure 2). This maritime area does not include the Baltic or Mediterranean seas. The Helsinki Convention (HELCOM, for the Baltic) and Barcelona Convention (for the Mediterranean) apply in these sea areas.


Due to this spatial extent of the Sea itself and its catchment the contracting parties are:

  • Belgium
  • Denmark
  • the European Community
  • Finland
    File:NEA.jpg
    The North-East Atlantic
  • France
  • Germany
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Luxembourg
  • the Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Region I: Arctic Waters

Region I is the northern OSPAR region, characterised by harsh climate and ice coverage. Although there is a low population density, human activities such as fishing and offshore petroleum production are relatively important. The ecosystems in Region I are rich, in particular it is one of the most important seabird regions in the world.

File:Tasiilaq East Greenland.jpg
Tasiilaq East Greenland (Region I)

Region II: Greater North Sea

The Greater North Sea is one of the busiest maritime areas. Offshore activities related to the exploitation of oil and gas reserves, and maritime traffic are very important. Two of the world's largest ports are situated on the North Sea coast, and the coastal zone is used intensively for recreation. The Greater North Sea is surrounded by densely populated, highly industrialised countries.

File:Seven Sisters Cliffs.jpg
Seven Sisters Cliffs, Southern England.jpg (Region II)


Region III: Celtic Seas

The Celtic Seas region contains wide variations in coastal topography, from fjordic sea lochs, to sand dunes, bays, estuaries and numerous sandy beaches. The large range of habitats in the region supports a diverse fish fauna. Although traditional maritime activities, such as fishing, take place in the Celtic seas, there is ongoing development of tourism.

File:Cliffs of Moher.jpg
Cliffs of Moher, western Ireland (Region III)


Region IV: Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast

The bottom topography of Region IV and coastlines are highly diversified, including the continental shelf and slope and parts of the abyssal plain. Ecosystems in Region IV are very rich, support a rich fish fauna and have a particular importance for migratory birds. Main human activities in region IV are fishing, maritime transport and tourism.

File:Cabo vidio.jpg
Cabo Vidio, Asturias, Spain (Region IV)


Region V: Wider Atlantic

Region V represents the deep waters of the North-East Atlantic extending across the abyssal plain and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and including many seamounts. There have been recent discoveries of a number of different fragile deep-sea habitats (such as hydrothermal vents, carbonate mounds, coral gardens and sponge communities). Human population in the region is restricted to the Azores Archipelago. The main human activities are fishing and maritime transport.

File:Azores, Portugal.jpg
Azores, Portugal (Region V)

The Convention

The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (the “OSPAR Convention”) was developed from the 1972 Oslo Convention on dumping waste at sea and the 1974 Paris Convention on land-based sources of marine pollution. It has been signed on 22 September 1992 by all of the Contracting Parties to the original Oslo or Paris Conventions and by Luxembourg and Switzerland. After ratification it entered into force on 25 March 1998 at the Ministerial Meeting of the parent Conventions. The Ministerial Declarations and Statements made at the adoption of the Convention and at the Ministerial Meetings of the OSPAR Commission guide the work under the Convention. Still, Decisions, Recommendations and other agreements made at the parent Conventions remain valid until they are terminated by newly adopted measures under the new Convention.

The full text of the Convention, including all Annexes and Appendices you can read here [1].

While at the first Ministerial Meeting of the OSPAR Commission at Sintra, Portugal, in 1998, the cooperation of the Contracting Parties was extended to cover all human activities that might adversely affect the marine environment of the North East Atlantic (Annex V of the Convention), programs and measures on questions relating to fisheries management cannot be adopted under the Convention.

The Commission

The OSPAR Commission is the forum through which the Contracting Parties cooperate and is made up of representatives of the Governments of 15 Contracting Parties and the European Commission, representing the European Community. Each of the Contracting Parties has 1 vote in the Commision. Important decisions are made unanimously or with three-quarters majority, depending on the issue.

There is usually one meeting per year that is hosted by one of the Contracting Parties. Additional meetings concerning urgent issues can be forced by at least 3 of the Contracting Parties together. In between, the Heads of the Delegations of the Contracting Parties meet regularly to prepare the meetings, to advice in management decisions and to monitor the development and implementations of the agreements made by the Commission.

The Commission is supported by six main committees (one for each strategy – see paragraph "Main targets") some of which are supported by so called working groups. Further support is given by Linguists, Jurists and the Committee of Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen. The Secretariat is headed by an Executive Secretary and is responsible for administrative tasks mainly.


Observers

The work of all above-named groups is watched by different observer organizations. These include intergovernmental organizations from similar fields and non-governmental organizations. The full list of these organizations can be found here [2].

Main targets

The work under the Convention is organised under six strategies:

  1. Protection and Conservation of Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystems
  2. Eutrophication
  3. Hazardous Substances
  4. Offshore Oil and Gas Industry
  5. Radioactive Substances
  6. Monitoring and Assessment


For each of the strategies a committee is formed, that supports the Commission. Some of the committees are in turn supported by working groups.


Tools

The work under the OSPAR Convention applies the ecosystem approach to the management of human activities [3]. The same is valid for the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (the Helsinki Commission – HELCOM).


Quality Status Report

Figure 3: Zones of QSR 2000: I - the Arctic, II - the Greater North Sea, III - the Celtic Seas, IV - the Bay of Biscay/Golfe de Gascogne and Iberian waters, and V - the Wider Atlantic.
The QSR 2000 is the OSPAR Commissions assessment of the environmental quality of the North-East Atlantic. It was released in 2000 to fulfil obligations under Annex IV to the OSPAR Convention.

It is based on 5 regional reports (regional QSRs) based on the 5 zones shown on the map (Figure 3).

In 2010 a new QSR was released. This report can be downloaded on the QSR 2010 website.

Joint HELCOM/OSPAR Work Programme on Marine Protected Areas

At the first joint ministerial meeting of the Helsinki and OSPAR commissions (JMM) in Bremen on 25-26 June 2003 the above named programme was adopted. The purpose of the work programme is to ensure that by 2010 there is an ecologically coherent network of well managed marine protected areas (MPAs) for the maritime areas of both HELCOM (Baltic Sea) and OSPAR (North East Atlantic).


Official Site

More information concerning the OSPAR about all meetings, the strategies, measures and publications, can be gathered at the bi-lingual (English/French) Official Site [4].


The main author of this article is Golon, Jona
Please note that others may also have edited the contents of this article.
Citation: Golon, Jona (2012): OSPAR Convention (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) and OSPAR Commission. Available from http://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/OSPAR_Convention_(Convention_for_the_Protection_of_the_Marine_Environment_of_the_North-East_Atlantic)_and_OSPAR_Commission [accessed on 1-05-2024]
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