General Assembly
North Sea Commission - Adopted Resolution at 11th General Assembly
2002
Resolution to:
The Government of the Kingdom of Belgium
The Government of the Kingdom of Denmark
The Government of the French Republic
The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
The Government of the Kingdom of Norway
The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden
The Government of the Swiss Confederation
The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The European Commission
THE FIFTH
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PROTECTION OF THE NORTH SEA.
THE BERGEN
DECLARATION.
The North Sea Commission, comprising 60 maritime regional authorities in
8 countries bordering the North Sea, met as observers to the Fifth
Ministerial Conference in Bergen, and will congratulate the North Sea
States with the outcomes of this conference put down in writing in the
Bergen Declaration.
The North Sea Commission will particularly express:
-
satisfaction
with the ministerial agreement on reducing the environmental impact
from shipping, emphasizing the
national responsibility for:
taking
urgent coordinated steps to reduce the
problem of spreading of non-indigenous invasive organisms to and
within the North Sea in accordance with international law and in order
to fully implement IMO Guidelines.
Please be aware that this item was raised as a resolution adopted by
the North Sea Commission General Assembly 22 June 2001 saying among
other things that the North Sea Commission regards the transfer of
aquatic organisms to be one of the greatest threats to the worlds
oceans. This resolution was also adopted by the Conference of
Peripheral Maritime Regions 21 September 2001.
investigating, developing and implementing where appropriate,
mechanisms, including economic
instruments, to reduce air pollution from shipping in the North
Sea area as a supplement to the IMO regime on air pollution.
Sweden can be looked at as a model for implementation for having
already in 1998 unilaterally introduced environmentally differentiated
fairway and port dues, which gives shipping lines financial incentives
to buy low-sulphur fuel and invest in technologies to reduce emissions
of nitrogen oxides. Air pollution from shipping is one of the main
sources for acidifying precipitation in the North Sea regions.
- appreciation
for recognising the progress made by the NSC Fisheries
Partnership in creating a North Sea Regional Forum, which could be
used as a
model for the North Sea
Regional Advisory Committee.
It is necessary for all North Sea stakeholders to work together tocreate
a common understanding of the need to reduce fishing capacity to sustainable
levels and also to take account of
all other factors which affect
North Sea stocks e.g. predators, climate change, effects from seismic
shooting and
pollution.
-
disappointment
with the fact that the two countries doing reprocessing of spent
nuclear fuel, France and UK, showed very little willingness to agree
on better decisions regarding reductions in their release of
radioactive substances to the marine environment. The North Sea
Commission directed attention to this issue in
April 1998 with a protesting letter on the Sellafield discharges
from the NSC President Bent Hansen to the UK Secretary of State Mr
Michael Meacher. This initiative was confirmed by resolutions in
adopted by the North Sea Commission General Assembly in 1998 and 1999.
In respect of the protection of the North Sea, the
North Sea Commission will continue to stress the necessity of stopping
discharging of Technetium-99 to the North Sea waters.
-
disappointment
with the fact that the ministers could not agree on avoiding
dangerous nuclear pollution by deciding to avoid transport of nuclear waste along risky fairways in the
northern part of the North Sea.
Please be
aware that this item was raised as a resolution and adopted by the
North Sea Commission General Assembly 22. June 2001 and also raised
and adopted by the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions CPMR on
21. September 2001.
The North Sea Commission will support the demand for a continuation of broad conferences on the protection of the North
Sea. The
Bergen Declaration gives no clear
decision on the long term future of the North
Sea Conferences. This contributes to uncertainty about a sustainable
environmental development of the North Sea and therefore not acceptable
for the regions around the North Sea.
This resolution was put before The North Sea Commission in its 11th
General Assembly in Norfolk 18-21 June 2002, and adopted.
Copy
to: The North Sea Secretariat
OSPAR
Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, CPMR
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