OSPAR Convention: Difference between revisions

{{unreferencedUse dmy dates|date=FebruaryApril 20092022}}

The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic was opened for signature at the [[Minister (government)|Ministerial Meeting]] of the Oslo and Paris Commissions in [[Paris]] on September 22, September 1992.<ref name="conv"/> 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]],{{#tag:ref|Finland is not on the western coasts of Europe, but some of its rivers flow to the [[Barents Sea]], and historically it was involved in the efforts to control the dumping of [[hazardous waste]] in the [[Atlantic]] and the [[North Sea]].<ref name="about">[http://www.ospar.org/content/content.asp?menu=00010100000000_000000_000000 About OSPAR]</ref>}} [[France]], [[Germany]], [[Iceland]], [[Ireland]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Norway]], [[Portugal]], [[Spain]], [[Sweden]] and the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland]]) and by [[Luxembourg]]{{#tag:ref|Luxembourg and Switzerland are Contracting Parties due to their location within the catchments of the [[River Rhine]].<ref name="about"/>|name="Rhine"}} and [[Switzerland]].<ref name="Rhine"/> The OSPAR Convention entered into force on March 25, March 1998, and replaced the Oslo and Paris Conventions, but decisions and other agreements adopted under those conventions remained applicable unless they are terminated by new measures adopted under the OSPAR Convention.<ref name="conv"/>

The first Ministerial Meeting of the OSPAR Commission at [[Sintra]], Portugal, in 1998 adopted Annex V to the Convention, extending the cooperation of the signatory parties to cover ''"all human activities that might adversely affect the marine environment of the North East Atlantic"''.<ref name="conv"/> Nevertheless, programmes and measures cannot be adopted under the Convention on questions relating to fisheries management, which are currently coordinated by European nations in the north east Atlantic and [[North Sea]] by the [[International Council for the Exploration of the Sea]] (ICES). The OSPAR convention now regulates European standards on [[biodiversity|marine biodiversity]], [[eutrophication]], the release of [[pollution|hazardous]] and [[radioactive decay|radioactive]] substances into the seas, the [[North Sea oil|offshore oil and gas industry]] and baseline monitoring of environmental conditions.<ref name="conv"/>

In [[2000]], the OSPAR Commission published a comprehensive report on the quality of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. This was supported by five smaller reports on the different parts of the OSPAR maritime area –the [[Arctic Ocean|Arctic]], the Greater [[North Sea]], the [[Celtic Sea]]sSeas, the [[Bay of Biscay|Bay of Biscay/Golfe de Gascogne]] and [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian waters]], and the [[Atlantic Ocean|Wider Atlantic]].<ref name="conv"/>

*[http://www.ospar.org/content/content.asp?menu=01481200000000_000000_000000 OSPAR CommissionConvention]