Regional Coordination

Coasts belong to countries, but marine life does not. To sufficiently govern and protect the large marine water bodies around Europe, regional coordination has been established by international conventions. Four regional seabasin secretariats provide services for the contracting parties of the four conventions.

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 action plans developed through regional consultation and agreed upon by high-level governing bodies, such as the annual ministerial meeting of the HELCOM contracting parties.

The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission – also known as the “Helsinki Commission” or “HELCOM” – was established in 1974 pursuant to and at the same time as the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (the “Helsinki Convention”).

The Helsinki Commission meets annually, with all Contracting Parties participating: Denmark, Estonia, the European Union, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden. In addition, meetings at the Ministerial level are held every few years (usually every three years). The Contracting Parties are represented by Heads of Delegation (HOD). The working structure of HELCOM consists of the meetings of the Helsinki Commission, the Heads of Delegation, and the eight main HELCOM Working Groups. The most relevant regarding munitions in the sea is the HELCOM Expert Group on Environmental Risks of Submerged Objects (EG Submerged). Its objective is to contribute to regionally coordinated actions on submerged munitions and explosives of concern as well as other submerged hazardous objects, aiming, in the long-term, at addressing potential adverse effects of such objects and their constituents on the marine environment of the Baltic Sea. (Source: UNEP-MAP)

BSPC - The Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference

BOSB - Baltic Ordnance Safety Board

CBSS - Council of the Baltic Sea States

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

HELCOM EG Submerged

OSPAR is the mechanism by which 15 Governments & the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.

OSPAR started in 1972 with the Oslo Convention against dumping and was broadened to cover land-based sources of marine pollution 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 biodiversity and ecosystems was adopted in 1998 to cover non-polluting human activities that can adversely affect the sea.

The fifteen Governments are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

OSPAR is so named because of the original Oslo and Paris Conventions ("OS" for Oslo and "PAR" for Paris). (Source: OSPAR)

OSPAR

The Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP) is a regional cooperation platform established in 1975 as the first regional action plan under the UNEP Regional Seas Programme.

The Regional Seas Programme launched in 1974 to coordinate activities aimed at the protection of the marine environment through a regional approach. UNEP/MAP became a model for other UNEP-administered Regional Seas Action Plans around the world.

UNEP/MAP was instrumental in the negotiation and adoption of the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) and its Protocols by the Contracting Parties: 21 Mediterranean countries and the European Union.

The Barcelona Convention and its Protocols constitute a unique and advanced multilateral legal framework for the protection of the marine and coastal environment and sustainable use of their resources in the Mediterranean.

The UNEP/MAP–Barcelona Convention system is the comprehensive institutional, legal and implementation framework that the Contracting Parties have adopted for concerted action to fulfill the vision of a healthy Mediterranean Sea and Coast that underpin sustainable development in the region. (Source: UNEP-MAP)

Barcelona Convention and Protocols  

The Black Sea Commission is the regional governing body created to implement the Bucharest Convention signed by the six coastal countries in 1992. On 31st October 1996, the Black Sea countries also signed the first Black Sea Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Protection of the Black Sea, later on amended in Sofia in 2009. This plan defines the policy measures, actions, and activities required to achieve the environmental objectives of the Bucharest Convention. The Black Sea Strategic Action Plan recognises that collective action is required from all Black Sea countries to reduce the impact of pollution on the sea’s ecosystems.

Nowadays, the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution, also known as Bucharest Convention, is one of the most known Regional Sea Conventions and instruments of the International Environmental Law, which was signed and ratified in 1992 and 1994, accordingly, and provided the legal ground for combating pollution from land-based sources and maritime transport, achieving sustainable management of marine living resources and sustainable human development in the Black Sea Region. (Source: UNEP – Bucharest Convention)

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