OSPAR Convention: Difference between revisions

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

The [http://www.ospar.org/site/assets/files/1290/ospar_convention_e_updated_text_in_2007_no_revs.pdf '''Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic''']<ref name="conv">{{Cite web|title= Convention Text |url= https://www.ospar.org/convention/text |access-date=2022-02-07 |website=OSPAR Commission|language=en-gb}}</ref> or '''OSPAR Convention''' is the current [[legislation|legislative]] instrument regulating international cooperation on environmental protection in the [[Atlantic Ocean|North-East Atlantic]]. Work carried out under the convention is managed by the '''OSPAR Commission''', which is made up of representatives of the [[Government]]s of the 15 signatory nations, and representatives of the [[European Commission]], representing the [[European Union]].<ref name="conv"/>

The OSPAR Convention was concluded at [[Paris]] on 22 September 1992.<ref name="conv"/> It combines and up-dates the 1972 [[Oslo Convention]] on dumping waste at sea and the 1974 Paris Convention on land-based sources of marine pollution. The name is likewise a combination of "Oslo" and "Paris".

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 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 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 Seas, the [[Bay of Biscay|Bay of Biscay/Golfe de Gascogne]] and [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian waters]], and the [[Atlantic Ocean|Wider Atlantic]].<ref name="conv"/>

According to the [[:fr :Association pour le contrôle de la radioactivité dans l'Ouest]], if tritium and iodine 129 discharges from the [[La Hague site]] into the [[Alderney Race]] do not diminish significantly, it will be difficult to achieve the objective of zero radioelement concentrations in the North Atlantic by 2020.<ref name="acro">(fr){{Cite web|url= [http://www.acro.eu.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/rad_lit13.pdf |title= Discharges of radioactive elements] |website= acro.eu.org, located|date= in22 [[Caen]],April [[France]].2013}}</ref>

In June 2007, OSPAR signatory parties aggreedagreed to amend the Convention in order to make mandatory the application of the threatytreaty in the case of geological storage of [[carbonic anhydride|CO₂]]. The threatytreaty allow theallows [[carbon capture and storage]] of carbonic anhydride from land to an offshore marine websitesite through a [[petroleum pipeline|pipeline]] that didis not requirerequired to pass near [[offshore platform|offshore platforms]]s for [[oil exploration|oil]] and [[gas exploration]].<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Tim |last1=Dixon|first2= Andy|last2= Greaves|first3= Oyvind|last3=Christophersen|first4=Chris|last4= Vivian|first5=Jolyon|last5= Thomson|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610209009114|title=International marine regulation of CO2 geological storage. Developments and implications of London and OSPAR|journal=Energy Procedia|volume=1|issue=1|doi=10.1016/j.egypro.2009.02.268|date=February 1, 2009|pages=4507|oclc=4934390933|issn=1876-6102|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723115449/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610209009114?via%3Dihub|archive-date=July 23, 2021|urldoi-statusaccess=livefree}}</ref>

[[Category:1992 in FranceParis]]