International activities

International marine activities

In this section:

Australia has emerged as a world leader in the management, conservation and sustainable use of the marine environment and enjoys a strong international reputation for leadership in encouraging responsible ocean management.

Australian leadership in marine management

As a maritime nation surrounded by the Indian Ocean to the west, the Southern Ocean to the South, the Pacific Ocean to the east, and the seas of East Asia to the north, Australia places great importance on ensuring economic development of marine resources exists side by side with sensitive environmental care.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Australia is committed to actively cooperating at the regional and global level to ensure both living and non-living resources are managed carefully and sustainably. We have a shared responsibility of ensuring the long term health of the world's oceans.

Australia's Oceans Policy, launched by the Australian Government Minister for the Environment, Senator The Hon Robert Hill in December 1998, states:

"Australia must participate internationally in bilateral and multilateral arrangements to establish and implement international regimes that are effective in identifying and addressing issues in transboundary management"

The policy continues:

"Australia should provide leadership regionally and internationally in the management of our oceans, recognising the possibility that national activities may have effects on the marine jurisdictions of neighbouring countries"

Conservation of marine biodiversity

In considering international action to conserve marine and coastal biodiversity, it is generally understood that while the "marine realm provides a great abundance and diversity of foods, medicines and raw materials, and will undoubtedly provide important new ones as we learn more, … the wealth of the sea is finite." Obviously the risk to marine and coastal biodiversity is greatest in ecosystems where human activities are most intense, eg. estuaries and coastal waters adjacent to large population centres, however no place in the ocean is so remote that it has not been touched by human activities that have the potential to significantly degrade biodiversity.

In 1998-99, Australia began to promote Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to the international community as a tool for marine biodiversity conservation. This work capitalised on Australia's significant practical experience in this area and included promoting the concept of a Global Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (GRSMPA) and MPAs on the high seas.

Recent work by the World Bank and IUCN-The World Conservation Union, shows that national and regional activity on MPAs is unevenly distributed. While organisations such as the World Bank and IUCN have been active in promoting MPAs, and national action has been endorsed though the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the establishment of a GRSMPA requires endorsement by the international community.

The CBD has embraced the concept of marine protected areas in Decision IV/5 'Conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal ecosystems, including a programme of work', and it would seem a logical approach to build on this work to accelerate global action on marine protected areas.

Unfortunately, while the Jakarta Mandate to the CBD calls for a GRSMPA, there exists at the international level a widespread lack of understanding of the terms 'representative' and 'global.' Similarly, there exists considerable international opposition to the use of MPAs to achieve biodiversity conservation on the high seas.

Australia has much to offer in relation to establishing and managing MPAs and considerable progress can be made towards marine biodiversity conservation through the establishment of unilateral, bilateral and multilateral MPAs within the Exclusive Economic Zones of Australia's regional neighbours.

Marine Protected Areas are not necessarily no take. They can range from a highly protected category to one that provides for multiple uses.

For example, the largest MPA in the world, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, is subject to many and varied uses, including extensive fishing and tourism.

MPAs beyond the limits of national jurisdiction

While our knowledge of the biodiversity and resources of the high seas is limited, increasingly areas are being identified that would benefit from a conservation and sustainable use approach, or at least from a precautionary approach to their initial exploration and use. Examples include certain fisheries habitat, deep ocean trenches, seamounts and hydrothermal vents.

To prevent a 'tragedy of the commons', the international community should seek to better coordinate and integrate established multilateral bodies and legal mechanisms to identify areas suitable for collaborative management action, and to and reach agreement by consensus on regimes for their conservation and management.

The four volume report on the GRSMPA, prepared by the World Bank, IUCN and GBRMPA, states:

"It is usually not appropriate to designate large areas of the open ocean as highly protected areas because eliminating all or most uses over a large area is not likely to gain public or political support. However, large, multiple-use protected areas can be particularly effective in the sea because they allow a balance to be reached between conservation and use over a large area through integrated management of complete ecosystems. Such integrated or 'bioregional' management requires sharing and coordinating the values and interests of a broad range of stakeholders when conceiving and implementing policies and programs. The concept involves combining, coordinating or integrating at a number of scales, values, interests and goals, many of which are in competition."

Integrated oceans management

Australia's Oceans Policy clearly demonstrates the importance Australia places on comprehensive and integrated management of ocean resources. Australia's former Prime Minister, the Hon John Howard, has stated:

"Our oceans contain resources of enormous potential benefit to all. These resources must be managed carefully to ensure economic benefit exists side by side with sensitive environmental care."

The 1998 Report of the Independent World Commission on Oceans, The Ocean Our Future, states:

"It is generally accepted that there is a need to further elaborate international rules [inter alia] in the field of responsibility and liability for harm to the marine environment, especially for acts not prohibited by international law."

At the Seventh Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, held in New York, April 1999, Australia supported the need to improve oceans governance and the coordination of ocean related activities, both by governments and the international community. This was considered fundamental to achieving the outcomes of Chapter 17 of Agenda 21.

Fortunately, general agreement has emerged that coordination within and among governments as well as among bodies within the United Nations system is vital and can be improved.

On 17 November 1999, at its 54th Session, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 54/33 to establish an Open-ended Informal Consultative Process to facilitate annual review by the General Assembly of developments in Ocean Affairs (UNICPO). The primary task of the UNICPO is to consider the Secretary General's Report Oceans and the Law of the Sea with an emphasis on identifying where coordination and cooperation at the intergovernmental and inter-agency levels should be enhanced.

The first meeting of the UNICPO was held 30 May to 2 June 2000 in New York. Australia presented the following statements:

Australia's Opening Address to UNICPO, 30 May 2000
Australian Statement to UNICPO on behalf of South Pacific States
Australian Presentation on IUU Fishing
Australian Non-paper on High Seas Biodiversity

Marine pollution from land-based sources

By far the greatest sources of marine pollution are those that are land-based. For both pollution mitigation purposes and the conservation of marine biodiversity it is critical that international efforts to address land based sources of marine pollution are accelerated. In answer to this pressing need and as a result of Agenda 21, the Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA) was adopted by over 100 governments, including Australia, in Washington D.C. on 3 November 1995.

The GPA is a non-legally binding instrument, aimed at preventing the degradation of the marine environment from land-based activities by facilitating the realisation of the duty of States to preserve and protect the marine environment. The sources of marine pollution it targets include sewage, persistent organic pollutants, radioactivity, metals, oils, nutrients, sediment mobilisation, litter and habitat destruction. It proposes action at primarily the national and regional levels with some coordination tasks at the global level. The GPA is designed to be a source of practical guidance to States in taking actions within their respective policies, priorities and resources.

Australia has been an active participant in meetings to discuss the development, implementation and review of the GPA.

Marine pollution from shipping

Examples of Australian initiatives to address marine pollution from shipping include:

Oceans at the World Summit on Sustainable Development

The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) took place in Johannesburg, South Africa from 26 August - 4 September 2002. Australia's involvement in the Summit reinforced Australia's commitment to achieving sustainable development at a global, national and local level.

Australia played a leading role in securing positive outcomes on the sustainable management of oceans at the World Summit. The WSSD Plan of Implementation includes a section on oceans, seas, islands and coastal areas that recognises oceans as an essential component of the Earth's ecosystem and sets an ambitious forward agenda for marine conservation and sustainable development. Specific areas of focus include conserving marine biodiversity, protecting vulnerable areas such as coral reefs and wetlands, reducing marine pollution, eliminating illegal fishing, and achieving better coordination across ocean-related UN and regional organisations.

Australia announced eight oceans partnerships to address these priority issues as part of its package of WSSD initiatives.

Links

Integrated Oceans Management

Conservation of Marine Biodiversity

Marine Pollution Control

International treaties and conventions

Using international treaties, agreements and conventions, the Australian Government works with other countries to ensure that highly migratory species are protected across their range.

International organisations

Permits