Estonia is preparing to join the London Convention and its Protocol on Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter. In the course of the week-long meeting that started today, the participants would like to overview the measures for avoiding maritime pollution in order to develop more appropriate guidelines on what kind of environmental norms to follow if dumping certain substances or materials to sea cannot be avoided. The meeting of the international work group in Tallinn already started last week when the issues of dumping into sea were discussed. “The Baltic Sea, with its sensitive eco system and as a part of the world sea, needs special protection,” Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus said. “The most efficient way to organize maritime protection is in cooperation with all other countries,” she noted. In her opening speech, the Minister of the Environment Keit Pentus emphasised that Estonia has started developing its marine strategy, which assesses our marine area and establishes measures for protection of the Baltic Sea. ”The better the overview we and our neighbours have of our marine area, the better we can protect it,” Pentus explained. The Minister of the Environment noted that the measures to be developed this week will definitely become a part of our marine strategy. The scientific group meeting is attended by 60 marine scientists from all over the world; in addition to representatives of the Baltic Sea countries, there are participants from Japan, United States, Canada, Brazil, China, Egypt, South-Africa, Kenya, Saudi-Arabia, Korea, Netherlands, etc. On 13 November 1972, the Convention on Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter was accepted in London. This is a global convention on dumping that was amended with the Protocol accepted on 7 November 1996. The Protocol entered into force on 24 March 2006 and it is a more modern and comprehensive regulation on prevention of marine pollution by dumping of wastes and other matter than the original London Convention. In accordance with Article 23 of the Protocol, it shall replace the London Convention. There are 37 Contracting States of the Protocol, whereas this number was 86 for the London Convention. From Baltic Sea countries, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Poland, Denmark and Germany are the Contracting States of the London Convention. Protocol States are Sweden, Denmark and Germany. In addition to Estonia, Finland and Lithuania are also preparing for join with this Protocol. |
