Download The Southern Ocean MPA Agenda - Antarctic and Southern Ocean

IP (number)
Agenda Item:
CEP 7
Presented by:
ASOC
Original:
English
The Southern Ocean MPA Agenda –
Matching words and spirit with action
Summary
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and Antarctic Treaty
Consultative Parties (ATCPs) will have to increase their resources directed towards the establishment of a
representative system of marine protected areas including no-take marine reserves by 2012. ASOC urges ATCPs
and CCAMLR Members to make effective use of the upcoming CCAMLR MPA workshop beginning in late
August in Brest, France to progress the work that is necessary to ensure that a representative system of MPAs
can be designated by 2012. This will ensure that the words and the spirit of the agreements and conventions that
make up the Antarctic Treaty System and of recent discussions on Marine Protected Areas in the context of the
ATCM, CCAMLR, and the joint workshop of CEP and SC-CAMLR are matched with action. In practice, this
means coming to the workshop with well justified MPA proposals.
1.
Introduction
In 2002, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the nations of the world agreed to work
towards the establishment of marine protected areas, including representative networks by 2012.1 The Antarctic
Treaty System (ATS) has responded more than any other regional body in the world by undertaking work to
achieve the goal of establishing a representative system of MPAs across the Southern Ocean by 2012. Still, there
remains concern that the achievement of the WSSD goal in the Southern Ocean will not be met. As they work
with the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), Antarctic Treaty
Consultative Parties (ATCPs) will have to increase their resources directed towards this goal, matching the
commitment of resources with strong effort to ensure that the goal of establishing a representative network of
MPAs including no-take marine reserves in the Southern Ocean by 2012 is met.
2.
Setting the Standard
The Southern Ocean is the one region of the high seas where attainment of the WSSD goal of establishing a
network of marine protected areas (MPAs) by 2012 remains a possibility. Such an achievement is only possible
because of the values and spirit enshrined within the Antarctic Treaty System, together with the various
provisions embodied in the Antarctic Treaty, The Madrid Protocol and the CCAMLR Convention.2 These values
and provisions set the Southern Ocean apart and, in the past, have enabled ATCPs and CCAMLR Members to
demonstrate considerable leadership in the governance of areas beyond national jurisdiction. It would therefore
be a dereliction of duty if ATCPs and CCAMLR members were to fail to meet the 2012 target and not set a
much needed precedent, especially when the Southern Ocean and, indeed the rest of the world’s oceans, face
ever more severe threats, climate change and ocean acidification being foremost amongst them.
3.
MPA Work Plan
In 2009, CCAMLR agreed to a work plan composed of a series of milestones to work towards the designation of
a representative system of MPAs in the Southern Ocean by the 2012 deadline.3 At its 2010 meeting, the
Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) recognised CCAMLR’s timetable for action towards developing
a system of MPAs, and reflected the timetable in its own five-year work programme.
The first milestone was for Members to collate relevant data for as many of the 11 priority regions as possible
(and other regions as appropriate), and characterise each region in terms of biodiversity patterns and ecosystem
processes, physical environmental features and human activities during 2010. However, on the evidence
available, outside of work done in a few key regions, there has been a considerable lack of progress in collating
relevant data for most of the Southern Ocean by ATCPs and CCAMLR Members, so failing to achieve the first
1
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Plan of Implementation paragraph 32 (c)
Agreed Measures for the Conservation of Antarctic Fauna and Flora – Recommendation III-VIII (1964) at Article VIII and
Annex B.; The Madrid Protocol Annex V – Area Protection and Management; CCAMLR Convention Article IX 2. g)
3
CCAMLR XXVIII Final Report, para 7.19; SC-CAMLR XXVIII Final Report, paras 3.27 – 3.28
2
agreed milestone in the work plan. However, the second milestone of the CCAMLR MPA work plan, namely the
meeting of the special CCAMLR MPA workshop, will not take place until August of this year. This means that
there is still some time for Treaty Parties and CCAMLR Members to get to work to further their own stated
goals.
There are a range of areas in the Southern Ocean where there has been no demonstrable progress from ATCPs
and CCAMLR Members to advance marine protection. These areas require ATCPs and CCAMLR Members to
become proponents for marine protection and in doing so progress the required scientific work to support the
development of MPA proposals for these areas. These areas include the Western Antarctic Peninsula, the seas
around South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the Del Cano Rise region between the Prince Edward
and Crozet Island groups, the Maud Rise, the Eastern Weddell Sea, the BANZARE Bank and particular sections
of the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas.
4.
Cooperation Between the CEP and SC-CAMLR
At the 2009 joint CEP / SC-CAMLR workshop, both bodies agreed to cooperate on the development of a
representative network of MPAs in the Southern Ocean. The workshop agreed that “issues relating to spatial
protection and management of Antarctic marine biodiversity would generally be best led by SC-CAMLR.”
However, the workshop also agreed that this would not “…preclude in any way the development by the CEP of
ASPAs and ASMAs which have in whole or in part a marine component.”4 It was also agreed that one of these
bodies would take the lead on issues related to the protection of marine species; climate change; and the
introduction of non-native species. Regardless of which body is the lead, ATCPs are encouraged to progress and
submit work on marine protection to be reviewed within the CEP. The scientific expertise of the CEP can make
strong contributions to the considerations of marine protection in the Southern Ocean, such as with respect to the
protection of overlap species in the Antarctic Treaty Area and issues related to non-native species, which could
potentially be enacted through MPAs (as well as other mechanisms). This is especially true of particular
Southern Ocean regions where there is increased focus from the ATCM such as where there is concentration of
national stations and tourism activity. ATCPs should be making greater efforts via the CEP to engage in the
progress of developing a representative system of MPAs other than just providing a single observer to attend the
relevant CCAMLR meetings. The increased engagement of the CEP and ATCM can also help harmonise
approaches to marine protection across the Antarctic Treaty System.
5.
CCAMLR MPA Workshop Outcomes
In order to make the most of the opportunity provided by the CCAMLR MPA workshop, and in line with the
agreed Terms of Reference, ATCPs and CCAMLR Members should now be developing concrete proposals for
consideration by the assembled experts. It should be the aim of the workshop to consider these proposals and so
reach in principle agreement on recommendations to the CCAMLR Scientific Committee, as to areas of the
Southern Ocean that should be included in the future system of marine protected areas.
6.
Conclusion
ATCPs will be well aware that the unique governance frameworks of the Antarctic Treaty System make it
possible to designate and implement a representative system of MPAs in the Southern Ocean and to do so in a
timely fashion to meet commitments made at the 2002 WSSD meeting. Supporting this opportunity are the
commitments of ATCPs and CCAMLR Members to designate and implement a representative MPA system to
meet this goal.5 Underpinning these commitments is a work plan that clearly lays out the steps that are needed
for the goal to be achieved. ASOC urges ATCPs and CCAMLR Members to seize the opportunity before them
and make effective use of the upcoming CCAMLR MPA workshop to progress the work that is necessary to
ensure that a representative system of MPAs can be designated by 2012. This will ensure that the words and the
4
5
ATCM XXXII/WP055.
CEP XII Final Report, para 160; CCAMLR XXVIII Final Report, para 7.19; SC-CAMLR XXVIII Final Report, para 3.15.
spirit of the agreements and conventions that make up the Antarctic Treaty System and of recent discussions on
Marine Protected Areas in the context of the ATCM, CCAMLR, and the joint workshop of CEP and SCCAMLR are matched with action. In practice, this means coming to the workshop with well justified MPA
proposals.