Regional Coordination

Coasts belong to countries, but the marine live doesn't . To sufficiently govern and protect the large marine water-bodies around Europe regional coordination has been established by international conventions. Four secretariats providing service for the contracting parties of the four conventions.

The most experienced is HELCOM-Secretariat in Helsinki (FIN) established already in 1974.

To achieve the good environmental status (GES) of all four water-bodies according to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive of the European Union all conventions are seen as important tools to implement actions plans developed by regional consultation and agreed on on high level governing bodies like the annual ministerial meeting by HELCOM contracting parties.

Starting 2016 in the scenic Town Varna (BUL) the NATO Science & Technology Organisation has facilitated several activities to link results of military and civilian science regarding underwater munitions. In 2023 a report, edited by members of the research task group AVT-330, will be available on request (NATO UNCLASSIFIED).

This report is of special interest if involved in historical ordnance disposal operations (HOD) and other activities of Standing NATO Mine Countermeasure Group (SNMCMG) activities.

NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO)

NATO Standing Naval Forces

BSPC - The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference

BOSB - Baltic Ordnance Safety Board [pdf]  

CBSS - Council of the Baltic Sea States

HELCOM - Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (The Helsinki Convention)

Oslo-Paris-Convention: 15 Governments & the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.

OSPAR

The Barcelona Convention and its seven Protocols adopted in the framework of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) constitute the principal regional legally binding Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA) in the Mediterranean.

Barcelona Convention and Protocols  

The Commission on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution (the Black Sea Commission or BSC) via its Permanent Secretariat is the inter governmental body established in implementation of the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against pollution.

Bucharest convention – the commission on the protection of the black sea against pollution