OSPAR Convention

OSPAR Commission

A. Introduction

OSPAR is the mechanism by which 15 Governments and the European Union cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. Their shared vision is to achieve a clean, healthy and biologically diverse North-East Atlantic, which is productive, used sustainably and resilient to the effects of climate change and ocean acidification.

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

OSPAR provides a framework for cooperation that contributes for Contracting Parties that are EU Member States to the achievement of their legal obligations under relevant EU instruments, in particular facilitating and coordinating the work under the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).The MSFD aims to achieve good environmental status for the EU Member States’ marine waters through the application of the Ecosystem Approach.

B. History

The grounding of the Torrey Canyon in 1967, which released 117,000 tonnes of oil with disastrous consequences for the environment, was a pivotal point for international cooperation to combat marine pollution in 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, updated and extended by the 1992 OSPAR Convention. A new annex on biodiversity and ecosystems was adopted in 1998 to cover non-polluting human activities that can adversely affect the sea. 

C. Overview

The OSPAR maritime area stretches from Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the west to the North Sea in the East, and from the North Pole southward to the Azores. 

Its habitats range from tidal mud flats to steep cliffs, from shallow estuaries to the deep seabed. Its ecosystems range from kelp forests to seagrass beds to deep cold-water coral reefs. 

The region is rich in marine life with several globally significant populations of marine mammals and seabirds. The air above includes the East Atlantic Flyway, a migratory route for millions of birds who use the coasts for feeding and nesting.

The North-East Atlantic faces many threats: from pollution, including marine litter, from land and shipping, from pressures on fish stocks from unsustainable fishing, from non-indigenous species and from coastal development.

The OSPAR Convention covers the whole of the North East Atlantic Ocean, and is divided into five sub-areas as follows;

• Region I – Arctic Waters. From the Pole, the area extends down the eastern coast of Greenland, encompassing Iceland, the Faeroes, Svalbard and the majority of the coastline of Norway.
• Region II – Greater North Sea. From West of Shetland, this area extends to southern Norway, encompasses the Skagerrak and Kattegat (bordering the Baltic Sea), down through the North Sea to the English Channel as far as the South West Approaches.
• Region III – Celtic Seas. An area covering the west coast of the UK to Brittany in France, encompassing all Irish coastal waters.
• Region IV – Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast. This area covers the entirety of the Bay of Biscay and extends along the Portuguese coast and then east as far as the Strait of Gibraltar.
• Region V – Wider Atlantic. From a latitudinal line extending from the southern reach of Region IV at the Strait of Gibraltar, West as far as a longitudinal line from the southern tip of Greenland, this is an area primarily of high seas, encompassing the Azores and undersea features such as the mid-Atlantic Ridge and a variety of habitats such as sea mounts, carbonate mounds and hydrothermal vents.

D. The Convention and its legal instruments

i) The OSPAR Convention was opened for signature in Paris on 22 September 1992. It was adopted together with a Final Declaration and an Action Plan. It entered into force on 25 March 1998. Contained within the OSPAR Convention are a series of Annexes which deal with the following specific areas:

• Annex I: Prevention and elimination of pollution from land-based sources;
• Annex II: Prevention and elimination of pollution by dumping or incineration;
• Annex III: Prevention and elimination of pollution from offshore sources;
• Annex IV: Assessment of the quality of the marine environment; and
• Annex V: On the protection and conservation of the ecosystems and biological diversity of the maritime area.

ii) Work to implement the OSPAR Convention and its strategies is taken forward through the adoption of Decisions, which are legally binding on the Contracting Parties, Recommendations and Other Agreements. 

E. Areas of work

OSPAR’s work is guided by its North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy 2030  which sets out its priorities and objectives until 2030. It is implemented through an implementation plan that sets out specific tasks to achieve the Strategy’s objectives.

OSPAR’s areas of work are:

• Biological Diversity & Ecosystems
• Hazardous Substances & Eutrophication
• Human Activities
• Offshore Industry
• Radioactive Substances
• Cross-Cutting Issues, including climate change and ocean acidification, cumulative effects, monitoring and assessment, ecosystem-based management, socio-economic analyses, and international engagement.

F. Ongoing projects 

OSPAR delivers its work through Contracting Party-led tasks and working groups. Some of the key areas of focus are: the protection and conservation of the marine environment in OSPAR’s Arctic Waters, offshore renewables, decommissioning of offshore oil and gas platforms, reducing marine litter, underwater noise, eutrophication and hazardous substances, the protection of declining and endangered species and habitats, and the implementation of the future BBNJ Agreement.

To facilitate the work of its Contracting Parties, OSPAR is also involved in external projects aimed at furthering its strategic objectives. OSPAR has a mechanism that sets out the aims and conditions for OSPAR’s engagement in external projects that will help to implement OSPAR’s Strategy.

G. Partnerships

OSPAR collaborates and engages in specific dialogue with other organisations, such as the Arctic Council and its Working Groups, the Northeast Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), International Seabed Authority (ISA), International Maritime Organization (IMO), Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) and other Regional Seas Conventions, and has agreed Memoranda of Understanding with several other international organisations. OSPAR also works with NEAFC through the Collective Arrangement to facilitate cooperation and coordination on area-based management, promoting the exchange of information on each other’s activities and achievements and taking into consideration all conservation and management measures taken in relation to the North-East Atlantic.

H. Organisational structure

i) OSPAR Commission - The role of the Commission is to harmonise policies and strategies, including the drawing up of programmes and measures, for the protection of the marine environment. The OSPAR Commission also undertakes and publishes at regular intervals joint assessments of the quality status of the marine environment and of the effectiveness of the measures taken and planned. On the basis of these Quality Status Reports, the OSPAR Commission identifies priorities for action for the protection of the marine environment. The Commission elects a Chair and two Vice-Chairs.

ii) Secretariat - The OSPAR Secretariat administers the work under the Convention, coordinates the work of the Contracting Parties and runs the formal meeting schedule of OSPAR. The OSPAR Secretariat also manages reporting of Contracting Parties on the implementation of OSPAR measures and the reporting of data under OSPAR monitoring programmes. For some issues practical data management is handled by a lead Contracting Party or contracted to specialist data centres. The international staff comprises an Executive Secretary, five Deputy Secretaries and eight Assistants.

iii) Observers - More than 30 international non-governmental organisations are involved in OSPAR as official Observers. They represent a broad range of interests and expertise related to the marine environment and the uses of marine resources. Many contribute information, insights and standpoints. The list of Observers is available online.

iv) Committees - OSPAR’s thematic Committees respond to the issues raised by the Assessments (on Biological Diversity and Ecosystems; Environmental Impacts of Human Activities; Hazardous Substances and Eutrophication; the Offshore Industry; Radioactive Substances; and Coordination Group).

I. Key Achievements

1. OSPAR's Quality Status Report 2023 launched. This is OSPAR’s most authoritative assessment of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. It reviews our progress in moving towards OSPAR’s vision of a clean, healthy and biologically diverse North-East Atlantic, which is productive, used sustainably and resilient to climate change and ocean acidification and recommends additional actions which may be taken up in the NEAES 2030.
2. OSPAR held a Ministerial meeting in 2021 to launch its new North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy (NEAES) 2030. The Strategy will be reviewed at OSPAR’s next Ministerial Meeting in 2025 and where necessary updated to address new and emerging pressures.
3. In 2023, OSPAR Contracting Parties agreed to extend the scope of its NACES (North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Seamount) MPA to include the seafloor and a number of species and habitats. The MPA covers almost 600,000 square kilometres and is one of the largest protected areas of the world.
4. OSPAR's Data & Information Management System (ODIMS) tool is continually developed to enhance OSPAR’s capacity and make sure all data used by OSPAR is available via the OSPAR Assessment Portal.
5. OSPAR’s network of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) (Report and assessment of the status of the OSPAR network of Marine Protected Areas in 2021) now comprises  of 583 MPAs, including 8 MPAs collectively designated in ABNJ. All MPAs have a total surface area of 1 468 053 km2, covering 10,8% of the OSPAR Maritime Area.
6. In 2023 OSPAR established a Working Group on Changing Ocean Climate and Ocean Acidification (WG COCOA). As one of its first actions the group produced a fact sheet on effects of climate change and ocean acidification in the OSPAR maritime area (fact sheet)
7. Common indicators have been adopted by the OSPAR Commission. These indicators are the basis for regular OSPAR assessments of the changing status of the marine environment and the intensity of pressures from human activities. Common indicators are adopted for specific OSPAR Regions and ensure consistency and comparability of updated assessments over time.
8. In 2020 OSPAR completely phased out all mercury cell chlor-alkali plants in its Maritime Area as a result of its Contracting Parties fully implementing PARCOM Decision 90/3 on reducing atmospheric emissions from existing chlor-alkali plants.
9. OSPAR Contracting Parties fulfilled the regional action plan on marine litter, and work has started on a new one.
10. OSPAR's   Fifth Periodic Evaluation Radioactive Substances (ospar.org)published in 2022, shows that measures to reduce discharges of radioactive substances to the marine environment are working.

J. Interesting facts

i) The European Arctic is also one of the most abundant seabird regions in the world with a breeding population of more than 25 million surface feeders (such as gulls, or fulmars) and diving subsurface feeders (such as Brünnich's guillemot).

ii) Arctic water region is characterised by a relatively harsh climate with extreme variations in light, temperature and ice cover.

iii) The North Sea is one of the most frequently traversed sea areas of the world with two of the world's largest ports situated on its coasts (Rotterdam and Hamburg).

iv) A large variety of marine mammal's species, both boreal and temperate, have been reported in the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast, including 30 species of cetaceans and 7 species of seals.

v) There have been recent discoveries of several different fragile deep-sea habitats (such as hydrothermal vents, carbonate mounds, coral gardens and sponge communities) in the Wider Atlantic region.

vi) The North Atlantic is a pivotal region from which oceanic and climatic fluctuations are rapidly transferred to all other oceans.

Website: https://www.ospar.org/