Schif f fahr t und polare Umwelt
OSPAR‘s Biodiversity and Ecosystems Strategy
2010-2020 - What does this mean for the Arctic?
Emily Corcoran
OSPAR is the mechanism by which fifteen Governments of the western coasts and catchments of Europe, together with the European Community, cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.
It started in 1972 with the Oslo Convention against dumping. It was broadened to cover land-based sources
and the offshore industry by the Paris Convention of 1974. These two conventions were unified, up-dated and
extended by the 1992 OSPAR Convention. The new annex on the protection and conservation of ecosystems
and biological diversity of the Maritime Area was adopted in 1998 to cover non-polluting human activities that
can adversely affect the sea.
The OSPAR Convention covers an area of about 13.5 million km2 stretching from the North Pole to just south
of the Azores and divided into five sub regions (see Figure 1). The Arctic (region 1) is the largest of these and
covers 40% of the OSPAR Maritime Area. This presentation will focus on this region and the relevance of the
Commission’s current work to implement Annex V of the Convention.
Figure 1. OSPAR Regions
Region I: Arctic Waters
Region II: Greater North Sea
Region III: Celtic Seas
Region IV: Bay of Biscay/Iberian Coast
Region V: Wider Atlantic
The paper will review the results of the recent Quality Status Report, published in 2010 and introduce the current work of the Commission to implement Annex V of the Convention. Focus will be placed on the Biodiversity
and Ecosystem elements under the North East Atlantic Environment Strategy. This Strategy was adopted in
2010 by Ministers of the OSPAR Contracting Parties and sets out the Commissions objectives for the period
up to 2020. The time frame for the OSPAR North East Atlantic Environment Strategy is at a critical period for
Region I, which faces rapid change that will affect the communities that live there, the activities they undertake and the ecosystems that sustain them.
Address of lecturer:
Emily Corcoran
Deputy Secretary
OSPAR Commission
37-63 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4DA, UK
email: [email protected]
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