Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Atlantic (OSPAR) was created when the Oslo 1972 Dumping Convention
and the Paris 1974 Convention on land-based sources of marine pollution
were combined. Fifteen states are party to it, three of which are not coastal
countries of the North-East Atlantic. Finland is party to it because its northern
rivers empty into the Barents Sea and because it was already a party to the Oslo
Dumping Convention. Luxembourg and Switzerland are parties because the
Rhine fl ows across their territory and empties into the North Sea.
The main strategy of the convention is ecosystem-based marine manage-
ment complemented by such principles as the precautionary principle, the
polluter pays principle and the principles of best environmental technology
and practices. The OSPAR has also established close relations with the North
East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), in order to coordinate fi shing
with other activities in the OSPAR area. The OSPAR has developed innova-
tive ways of protecting the high seas environment in the North-East Atlantic.
The Baltic Sea Convention, which was renewed in 1992, has also gradually
assumed the marine ecosystem management system, and the OSPAR and the
Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) have given joint declarations about using
this management model in the marine ecosystems. Both trends are supported
by the intensifi ed EU maritime policy because many parties to the OSPAR
and HELCOM are also member states of the EU. Both the Marine Directive
and the EU Integrated Maritime Policy increasingly encourage member states
to assume ecosystem-based marine management.
Another idea that has increasingly infl uenced environmental law and politics
is the concept of 'ecosystem services'. Ecosystem services are divided into four
categories in the scientifi c UN 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA):
provisioning, supporting, regulating, and cultural. Many of us are most famil-
iar with the provisioning services provided by nature: trees and food grow
spontaneously, securing the basis for human economy and existence. Nature
regulates the composition of the atmosphere and watercourses (regulating
services) and provides opportunities for peace and recreation (cultural services).
Further services provided by nature are dependent on the supporting services,
such as photosynthesis, nutrient circulation and pollination.
The 2005 MA was an important extensive assessment under the auspices
of the UN. It demonstrated that most of the ecosystem services have lost
their 'serviceability' due to human activity. It also brought to international
and national attention the environmental approach that had long been
acknowledged by experts. Although the notion of ecosystem services is only
just emerging in environmental governance, it has already begun to ques-
tion the way previous environmental regulation took them for free and
granted.
Regulatory instruments in international environmental law
The national and EU environmental legal systems have a versatile selection of
regulatory instruments at their disposal in order to promote the objectives
Search WWH ::
Custom Search