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The North Sea and its environment: Uses and conflicts
Conferences
The North Sea - European Forum proposals The
North
Netherlands,
Sea
and
25-26
its
Environment:
October
This seminar took place to consider the necessity for a comprehensive policy for the organization of the numerous activities now taking place in the North organized by the Sea. It was Netherlands North Sea Working Group (NSWG, the Nordzee Werkgroep) with the European the support of which Environmental Bureau, coordinates the activities of nongovernmental organizations in this field. There were over 100 participants, drawn mainly from the Netherlands but with a sizeable contingent from the UK and representatives from Belgium, West Germany, Ireland, Norway, France and covering a wide range of Italy, involvement in and concern for the environment. The North Sea participants included officials from various government departments (mainly Dutch), politicians, academics, councils, institutes and research nonscientists, industry and environmental governmental organizations. The Netherlands Nordzee Werkgroep organization environmental is an recently. established comparatively Although this area has been the object of intensive study in the UK and many papers presented therefore had an air of d& vu to the UK contingent, the Dutch enthusiasm and concern for the North Sea environment is nonetheless greatly to be welcomed and encouraged. Papers ‘The included one on presented viewpoint of the North Sea Working Group’ by its President, A. de Jong; ‘The natural features of the North Sea’ (by D. Eisma, Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, who also contributed a background paper summarizing these features); ‘North Sea policies from a viewpoint’ (by P.H. scientific Koekebakker, Delft University); ‘North Sea policies from the viewpoint of the Grant Lawrence, EEC’ (by D. Environment and Consumer Protection Service of the EEC Commission);
254
Uses
and
Conflicts,
the
Hague,
the
1979.
‘North Sea policies from the viewpoint of a Member of Parliament’ (Lord Kennet, UK House of Lords). Mr Lawrence’s paper gave a very useful up-to-date review of the EEC approach to the interactions of direct and indirect measures relating to prevention of pollution of seawater and the progress made by the ‘families’ of EEC directives and regulations in this and the industrial wastes fields. He drew attention to the role now being played by the EEC as such, as an independent several recent pollution party to the prevention conventions, eg Barcelona Convention on the Mediterranean, and as a participant in conferences concerning all aspects of the marine environment. This role now enables the EEC to play a significant part as the framework for coordinating harmonizing pollution the and prevention laws and policies of its member states (without any supranational solution or powers). He drew however, to the overattention, concentration of concerned bodies on hydrocarbon pollution whereas landbased sources were more devastating in their effect. A further question asked was who is to pay for the necessary measures, because environmental protection is one of the first expenses to be chipped away by those wielding budgetary axes. Lord Kennet, however, said there was still an almost complete lack of any overall and multipurpose governance of the seas. He saw the role of the seminar as a forum for assembling the basic facts on North Sea use and subjecting them to analysis, thus enabling the identification of guidelines for politicians for the construction of the bodies needed for the necessary regulation of the seas the aim being to eliminate the present confusing dispersal of powers and compartmentalization of interests and to move towards a more centralized
regional and national all-embracing administration (albeit nationally enforced) within the international framework being provided by the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He suggested, therefore, that UNCLOS might well be translated into a UN Standing Conference and that a European Maritime Forum should be established for the North Sea under the auspices of the European Commission and financed by it.
Building up the database A number of background papers were confirmed available which Lord Kennet’s point about the use of such seminars as a medium for adding to the database of the North Sea activities. They included papers on ‘The conflict between shipping and oil and gas extraction’ Pellenbarg, (by N. Netherlands Ministry of Transport and Public Works, North Sea Directorate); ‘Consequences of implementation of environment marine protection measures for specific availability of shore reception facilities for oil and chemicals for the shipping industry’ (by C. Broere, Royal Dutch Shipowners’ Association); ‘Industrial islands in the North Sea?’ (by H. van Hoorn, ‘Multispecies and single NSWG); species stock assessment in relation to fisheries management’ (by N. Daan, Netherlands Institute for Fisheries Investigation); ‘Marine pollution in the North Sea area’ (by K. Kramer, Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, and M. van der Loeff, chemical ‘The oceanographer); political dimensions of North Sea pollution control 1967-1979’ (by P. Fotheringham, University of Glasgow); ‘The legal regime for the North Sea’ (by V. Sebek, Secretary of the Advisory Committee on Oil Pollution of the Sea ACOPS); ‘Oil and gas in the north sea’ (by Dr J. Binks, BP): ‘Marine oil pollution of seabirds’ (by K. Standing, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - RSPB); ‘The conflict between the offshore oil and fishing industries in the UK sector of the North Sea’ (by G. Mackay and P. Sadler, Aberdeen University, UK); ‘The North Sea: a disorganised of challenge opportunities?’ (by P. Birnie, University of Edinburgh, UK); and a brief paper on
MARINE
POLICY
July 1980
Conferences
the European Maritime Pilots’ Association by A. de Vries, its President. These were the subject of discussion both in plenary sessions and in small workshops on specific issues of scientific research, control and enforcement, future North Sea policy, shipping, fisheries, pollution, and oil and exploitation. Some critics gas considered that the alleged threat to the North Sea environment was exaggerated by the writers of certain papers, and various assumptions and details were challenged. There was criticism also of the seminar’s concluding Resolution, based, with minor amendments, on a draft presented only in the closing stages, which, in the name of non-governmental organizations attending the seminar ‘requested the Commission of the European Communities to consider assisting financially and otherwise the establishment of a non-governmental
North include Sea Forum to participants from non-EEC countries, for the study and discussion of new approaches to the integrated management of the North Sea’, on the grounds, among others, that they were ‘concerned that the well being of millions of people and of the flora and fauna of a large region is being endangered’, and were ‘aware that the economy of the North Sea is necessarily founded on its ecology, and that the failure of the current fragmentary and ad hoc management of the North Sea to cope with growing conflicts of interest threatens both’. considered by some It was participants that these assumptions were too sweeping, that insufficient time allowed for debate on this was Resolution (indeed there was virtually no time left), and there was some suspicion, which left several participants dissatisfied, that the seminar had been
Conservation of marine mammals - law and enforcement The
Quissac
Mammals,
Workshop
Q&sac,
on the
France,
lo-14
Legal
Following the recommendations of the Scientific Consultation on Marine Mammals, held in Bergen, Norway in 1976, during 1979 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) began to consider a Plan of Action for the conservation of these species. Preliminary consideration of the first draft of this plan by a multidisciplinary committee of experts in marine mammal problems in Nairobi in May 1979 indicated that further attention should be paid to the role of law in ensuring conservation, and the need to develop and improve the application and enforcement of relevant laws at the national and international level. The committee considered that this should be one of five areas of concentration within the Plan and advocated the convening of a workshop of a small group of lawyers to consider the legal problems and formulate proposals.
MARINE
POLICY July
1980
Aspects
December
of
Conservation
of
Marine
1979.
A group of seven lawyers - P. Birnie, M.J. Forster (UK); A.V. Kuder, A.R. Larson (USA); M. M’Gonigle (Canada); C. de Klemm, M. RemondGouilloud (France); and two scientists (S. Holt and C.F. Vanderbilt), also assisted by P. Sand (Secretary-General of the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species - CITES) met in December 1979 at Quissac, France, at the invitation and under the of Mme Remondchairmanship Gouilloud, who had chaired the Nairobi meeting. The discussions covered all species of marine mammals - sirenians, cetaceans, pinnipeds, two species of marine otter, a species of bat and the polar bear. The special characteristics of the various species, which render them in different ways specially vulnerable to human depredation and therefore requiring a higher standard of legal protection than
used for their own ‘environmental politics’ by some participants, thus distorting its otherwise admirable factfinding purposes. Nonetheless the seminar as a whole unanimously approved the objective of the Resolution, namely the creation of a permanent North Sea Forum under the of the EEC to study auspices integrated development of more The procedures. management Proceedings of the seminar, including and papers and reports the recommendations of the workshops will be published shortly and should encourage further progress towards the establishment of some form of North Sea ‘forum’, although its shape and content remain unclear.
Patricia Birnie Dept of Public International University
of Edinburgh,
Law UK
fish, were identified. It was also noted that there are now many indications of the emergence of a special status for some or all of these species in national and international law: special attention is devoted to them for example at the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the Informal Composite Negotiating Text (ICNT) Rev 1; in CITES; in the new 1979 Bonn Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals; and in the national laws of the USA and New Zealand. The group considered ways in which national legislation might be improved both concerning its form and content and in its implementation and enforcement. It recommended, when appropriate, promulgation of specific laws to protect significant populations of marine mammals taking account of their full range of values, to complement international legal developments. It also advised that guidelines should be established internationally on the classes of marine mammals and matters which should or might be included in each state’s national laws and that uniformity of implementation should be promoted. The group made detailed proposals on various matters which might be the
255
The North Sea - European Forum proposals The
North
Netherlands,
Sea
and
25-26
its
Environment:
October
This seminar took place to consider the necessity for a comprehensive policy for the organization of the numerous activities now taking place in the North organized by the Sea. It was Netherlands North Sea Working Group (NSWG, the Nordzee Werkgroep) with the European the support of which Environmental Bureau, coordinates the activities of nongovernmental organizations in this field. There were over 100 participants, drawn mainly from the Netherlands but with a sizeable contingent from the UK and representatives from Belgium, West Germany, Ireland, Norway, France and covering a wide range of Italy, involvement in and concern for the environment. The North Sea participants included officials from various government departments (mainly Dutch), politicians, academics, councils, institutes and research nonscientists, industry and environmental governmental organizations. The Netherlands Nordzee Werkgroep organization environmental is an recently. established comparatively Although this area has been the object of intensive study in the UK and many papers presented therefore had an air of d& vu to the UK contingent, the Dutch enthusiasm and concern for the North Sea environment is nonetheless greatly to be welcomed and encouraged. Papers ‘The included one on presented viewpoint of the North Sea Working Group’ by its President, A. de Jong; ‘The natural features of the North Sea’ (by D. Eisma, Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, who also contributed a background paper summarizing these features); ‘North Sea policies from a viewpoint’ (by P.H. scientific Koekebakker, Delft University); ‘North Sea policies from the viewpoint of the Grant Lawrence, EEC’ (by D. Environment and Consumer Protection Service of the EEC Commission);
254
Uses
and
Conflicts,
the
Hague,
the
1979.
‘North Sea policies from the viewpoint of a Member of Parliament’ (Lord Kennet, UK House of Lords). Mr Lawrence’s paper gave a very useful up-to-date review of the EEC approach to the interactions of direct and indirect measures relating to prevention of pollution of seawater and the progress made by the ‘families’ of EEC directives and regulations in this and the industrial wastes fields. He drew attention to the role now being played by the EEC as such, as an independent several recent pollution party to the prevention conventions, eg Barcelona Convention on the Mediterranean, and as a participant in conferences concerning all aspects of the marine environment. This role now enables the EEC to play a significant part as the framework for coordinating harmonizing pollution the and prevention laws and policies of its member states (without any supranational solution or powers). He drew however, to the overattention, concentration of concerned bodies on hydrocarbon pollution whereas landbased sources were more devastating in their effect. A further question asked was who is to pay for the necessary measures, because environmental protection is one of the first expenses to be chipped away by those wielding budgetary axes. Lord Kennet, however, said there was still an almost complete lack of any overall and multipurpose governance of the seas. He saw the role of the seminar as a forum for assembling the basic facts on North Sea use and subjecting them to analysis, thus enabling the identification of guidelines for politicians for the construction of the bodies needed for the necessary regulation of the seas the aim being to eliminate the present confusing dispersal of powers and compartmentalization of interests and to move towards a more centralized
regional and national all-embracing administration (albeit nationally enforced) within the international framework being provided by the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He suggested, therefore, that UNCLOS might well be translated into a UN Standing Conference and that a European Maritime Forum should be established for the North Sea under the auspices of the European Commission and financed by it.
Building up the database A number of background papers were confirmed available which Lord Kennet’s point about the use of such seminars as a medium for adding to the database of the North Sea activities. They included papers on ‘The conflict between shipping and oil and gas extraction’ Pellenbarg, (by N. Netherlands Ministry of Transport and Public Works, North Sea Directorate); ‘Consequences of implementation of environment marine protection measures for specific availability of shore reception facilities for oil and chemicals for the shipping industry’ (by C. Broere, Royal Dutch Shipowners’ Association); ‘Industrial islands in the North Sea?’ (by H. van Hoorn, ‘Multispecies and single NSWG); species stock assessment in relation to fisheries management’ (by N. Daan, Netherlands Institute for Fisheries Investigation); ‘Marine pollution in the North Sea area’ (by K. Kramer, Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, and M. van der Loeff, chemical ‘The oceanographer); political dimensions of North Sea pollution control 1967-1979’ (by P. Fotheringham, University of Glasgow); ‘The legal regime for the North Sea’ (by V. Sebek, Secretary of the Advisory Committee on Oil Pollution of the Sea ACOPS); ‘Oil and gas in the north sea’ (by Dr J. Binks, BP): ‘Marine oil pollution of seabirds’ (by K. Standing, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - RSPB); ‘The conflict between the offshore oil and fishing industries in the UK sector of the North Sea’ (by G. Mackay and P. Sadler, Aberdeen University, UK); ‘The North Sea: a disorganised of challenge opportunities?’ (by P. Birnie, University of Edinburgh, UK); and a brief paper on
MARINE
POLICY
July 1980
Conferences
the European Maritime Pilots’ Association by A. de Vries, its President. These were the subject of discussion both in plenary sessions and in small workshops on specific issues of scientific research, control and enforcement, future North Sea policy, shipping, fisheries, pollution, and oil and exploitation. Some critics gas considered that the alleged threat to the North Sea environment was exaggerated by the writers of certain papers, and various assumptions and details were challenged. There was criticism also of the seminar’s concluding Resolution, based, with minor amendments, on a draft presented only in the closing stages, which, in the name of non-governmental organizations attending the seminar ‘requested the Commission of the European Communities to consider assisting financially and otherwise the establishment of a non-governmental
North include Sea Forum to participants from non-EEC countries, for the study and discussion of new approaches to the integrated management of the North Sea’, on the grounds, among others, that they were ‘concerned that the well being of millions of people and of the flora and fauna of a large region is being endangered’, and were ‘aware that the economy of the North Sea is necessarily founded on its ecology, and that the failure of the current fragmentary and ad hoc management of the North Sea to cope with growing conflicts of interest threatens both’. considered by some It was participants that these assumptions were too sweeping, that insufficient time allowed for debate on this was Resolution (indeed there was virtually no time left), and there was some suspicion, which left several participants dissatisfied, that the seminar had been
Conservation of marine mammals - law and enforcement The
Quissac
Mammals,
Workshop
Q&sac,
on the
France,
lo-14
Legal
Following the recommendations of the Scientific Consultation on Marine Mammals, held in Bergen, Norway in 1976, during 1979 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) began to consider a Plan of Action for the conservation of these species. Preliminary consideration of the first draft of this plan by a multidisciplinary committee of experts in marine mammal problems in Nairobi in May 1979 indicated that further attention should be paid to the role of law in ensuring conservation, and the need to develop and improve the application and enforcement of relevant laws at the national and international level. The committee considered that this should be one of five areas of concentration within the Plan and advocated the convening of a workshop of a small group of lawyers to consider the legal problems and formulate proposals.
MARINE
POLICY July
1980
Aspects
December
of
Conservation
of
Marine
1979.
A group of seven lawyers - P. Birnie, M.J. Forster (UK); A.V. Kuder, A.R. Larson (USA); M. M’Gonigle (Canada); C. de Klemm, M. RemondGouilloud (France); and two scientists (S. Holt and C.F. Vanderbilt), also assisted by P. Sand (Secretary-General of the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species - CITES) met in December 1979 at Quissac, France, at the invitation and under the of Mme Remondchairmanship Gouilloud, who had chaired the Nairobi meeting. The discussions covered all species of marine mammals - sirenians, cetaceans, pinnipeds, two species of marine otter, a species of bat and the polar bear. The special characteristics of the various species, which render them in different ways specially vulnerable to human depredation and therefore requiring a higher standard of legal protection than
used for their own ‘environmental politics’ by some participants, thus distorting its otherwise admirable factfinding purposes. Nonetheless the seminar as a whole unanimously approved the objective of the Resolution, namely the creation of a permanent North Sea Forum under the of the EEC to study auspices integrated development of more The procedures. management Proceedings of the seminar, including and papers and reports the recommendations of the workshops will be published shortly and should encourage further progress towards the establishment of some form of North Sea ‘forum’, although its shape and content remain unclear.
Patricia Birnie Dept of Public International University
of Edinburgh,
Law UK
fish, were identified. It was also noted that there are now many indications of the emergence of a special status for some or all of these species in national and international law: special attention is devoted to them for example at the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the Informal Composite Negotiating Text (ICNT) Rev 1; in CITES; in the new 1979 Bonn Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals; and in the national laws of the USA and New Zealand. The group considered ways in which national legislation might be improved both concerning its form and content and in its implementation and enforcement. It recommended, when appropriate, promulgation of specific laws to protect significant populations of marine mammals taking account of their full range of values, to complement international legal developments. It also advised that guidelines should be established internationally on the classes of marine mammals and matters which should or might be included in each state’s national laws and that uniformity of implementation should be promoted. The group made detailed proposals on various matters which might be the
255