International Cooperation

OSPAR is one of 18 Regional Seas Conventions, the majority of which are established within the framework of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Although OSPAR was established independently by its Contracting Parties, it works closely with other Regional Seas Conventions to enhance cross-regional cooperation within the UNEP framework and plays an important role in the collective work of the Regional Seas Conventions.

Regional Seas Programmes have established a global network of governance platforms where Contracting Parties work together to ensure the sustainable management and use of coastal, marine and ocean resources. These Regional Seas Programmes provide sustainable mechanisms for enhancing cooperation and collaboration on joint programmes, projects and activities.

OSPAR has strong links with the other Regional Seas Conventions, particularly with the Helsinki Convention, the Barcelona Convention, and the Cartagena Convention. Inter-regional cooperation with these conventions includes sharing lessons learned and best practices on topics of common interest, for instance on seabirds, indicators, underwater noise, ballast water or special areas regulating ships’ exhaust gases with the Helsinki Convention and on conducting and presenting regional assessments with the Barcelona Convention.

At the first United Nations Ocean Conference to support the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 held in New York, USA, in June 2017, OSPAR and the Cartagena Convention registered a voluntary commitment for cross-Atlantic collaboration. This voluntary commitment explores opportunities for inter-regional cooperation (#OceanAction17198), including on marine protected areas (MPAs), marine litter, and nutrient pollution. At its 2021 Ministerial meeting in Cascais, Portugal, OSPAR agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Cartagena Convention. You can read the full text here.

OSPAR, together with the Abidjan Convention and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) conducted a joint workshop in June 2011 in Libreville, Gabon, to support capacity building for ecosystem-based management in the Abidjan Convention area through the exchange of best practice and lessons learned. Key issues discussed during the Workshop included the legal framework for marine pollution management, London Protocol procedures, the management of offshore oil and gas activities and the establishment and management of marine protected areas.

In 2018 the OSPAR Secretariat, the IMO Office for the London Convention and Protocol & Ocean Affairs, Norway’s Oil for Development Programme and the Abidjan Convention Secretariat held a Joint Regional Capacity Building Workshop in Ghana to support implementation of the London Protocol and development of the Abidjan Convention Offshore Protocol. The workshop focused on implementation of measures on an international, regional and national level. The IMO set the scene for international work, OSPAR provided examples of established tools and experience in regional cooperation, highlighting its Decisions, Recommendations and Agreements and Norway demonstrated how national and international measures can be integrated into national legislation.

The Collective Arrangement aims to establish a regional platform to facilitate cooperation and coordination on area-based management as well as the sharing of information between competent authorities addressing the management of human activities in the North-East Atlantic region. OSPAR has been working closely with the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) to ensure more effective protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. Other competent international organisations, such as the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO), are invited to join this Collective Arrangement, and several of them attend the yearly meetings as observers.

The adoption of the agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) in June 2023 has given an impetus to strengthen the work under the Collective Arrangement, which could play a role as a regional platform for collaboration and cooperation to support the implementation of the BBNJ Agreement in the North-East Atlantic. Information exchange through the Collective Arrangement aims to ensure that protective area-based measures complement each other to provide a higher degree of protection while enabling sustainable use of the marine environment and that the measures do not undermine the actions of other competent bodies.

More information about the Collective Arrangement can be found here.

Working in close cooperation with those that share our seas provides cost effective and efficient means of tackling transboundary issues facing the ocean. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) requires EU Member States sharing a marine region or sub-region to cooperate to ensure that the Directive’s objectives are achieved. To support this, OSPAR acts as a forum for those Contracting Parties that are EU Member States to cooperate and help to ensure delivery of the MSFD objectives in a coordinated way, using the mechanisms and structures of OSPAR. In OSPAR, ICG-MSFD is responsible for facilitating and coordinating this work and providing a policy steer on MSFD-related issues. OSPAR has aligned the data and information requirements of its Quality Status Report (QSR) 2023, to those of the MSFD wherever possible.

The OSPAR maritime area covers the North-East Atlantic including part of the Arctic area (OSPAR Region I). For OSPAR, cooperation with the Arctic Council and its Working Groups is key in protecting the marine environment and to contribute to the sustainable use of marine resources. As an observer to the Arctic Council since 2017, OSPAR contributes primarily through engagement at the level of Working Groups, such as the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) Working Group, the Emergency Preparedness, Prevention and Response (EPPR) Working Group, the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group, and the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Working Group.

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is an intergovernmental marine science organisation that provides scientific information and advice to OSPAR. The ICES Secretariat also serves as a data centre for various data collected under the Co-ordinated Environmental Monitoring Programme (CEMP) under the OSPAR Joint Assessment and Monitoring Programme (JAMP).

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the OSPAR Commission and ICES can be found here.

Concern among North Sea states that the large inputs of various harmful substances via rivers, direct discharges and dumping of waste at sea could cause irreversible damage to the North Sea ecosystems as well as some countries' dissatisfaction with the slow progress made by competent international organisations in protecting the marine environment, resulted in the first International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea in Bremen, Germany, in 1984.

Since then, five further North Sea Conferences were held: London 1987, The Hague 1990, Esbjerg 1995, Bergen 2002 and Gothenburg 2006. The Conferences united governments from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom in an effort to protect the North Sea environment.

The series of North Sea Conferences (NSCs) has had the advantage of providing a political framework for a broad and comprehensive assessment of the measures needed to protect the North Sea. This enabled ministers to deal with a broad range of North Sea issues and allowed them to respond swiftly and to focus on key issues at each conference.

The North Sea Conferences agreed far-reaching politically based commitments. Many of these were adopted in national regulations as well as within the framework of legally binding conventions. The adoption of the precautionary principle at the conference in London in 1987 is one of the most important agreements emanating from the North Sea Conferences. Another important outcome is the agreement at the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting on Integration of Fisheries and Environmental Issues (IMM 97) to develop and apply an ecosystem approach to the management of human activities and protection of the North Sea. Ministers at the 5^th NSC in 2002 developed a conceptual framework for an ecosystem approach and committed themselves to implementing this approach.

Annex 1 to the Progress Report to the 5th North Sea Conference records the early history of the North Sea Conferences, including the principal milestones.

The Ministers at the conference in Gothenburg 2006 noted that there was no plan for another North Sea Conference or Ministerial Meeting. The Ministers declared that many of the issues that were discussed over the years were being treated in other fora. With a view to safeguarding the fulfilment of the commitments from the various North Sea Conferences, the North Sea Ministers invited OSPAR, in cooperation with the EU, to facilitate a periodic follow-up to this effect.

The OSPAR Commission has reviewed progress in the implementation of commitments from the North Sea Conference. OSPAR has published a comprehensive general report to North Sea Ministers on the follow-up to the 2002 Bergen Declaration and a special report on the implementation of the Ecological Quality Objectives for the North Sea. A second comprehensive review of progress in implementing North Sea Conference commitments was published in 2009 to inform the North Sea Ministers before the OSPAR Ministerial Meeting in 2010.

The North Sea Network of Investigators and Prosecutors (NSN) was established as a body of the OSPAR Commission following an invitation from the ministerial North Sea Conferences and provides a direct link to the Agreement for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances (Bonn Agreement).