Greenpeace calls on governments to support the following measures to counter land-based marine pollution: a global treaty on land-based pollution; regional and national action plans; inte- grated coastal zone management plans; expedited implementation of clean technologies; and the establish- ment of a high-level intergovernmental global oceans forum.

Clifton Curtis is with Greenpeace Interna- tional and Friends of the Earth Internation- al, c/o UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, PO Box 179- D, Santiago, Chile.

General issues affecting land-based pollution

(8) Views of Greenpeace

Clifton Curtis

Time is running out. By all accounts, pollution is wreaking havoc on marine and coastal areas. It is destroying living resources, ecosystems, the livelihoods of fisherpeople and others dependent upon the oceans, and the economies of more and more local communities. Numerous coastal ecosystems have been ruined, others are at risk, and there are growing signs that the seaward reach of pollution is extending beyond continental shelves, into the deeper ocean.

The major sources of marine pollution are land-based: pipelines, run-off, and atmospheric loading are responsible for roughly 80% of the inputs. In contrast, roughly 10% of the inputs come, respectively, from dumping of wastes at sea and from accidental and operational dis- charges by vessels. There are global treaties dealing with dumping (London Dumping Convention) and vessel operations (eg MARPOL 73178, SOLAS, Convention on Loadlines) but the only global agree- ment on land-based sources of marine pollution is the ineffective 1985 Montreal Guidelines.

None of what is stated above, though, is new. What is very troubling given the severity of land-based pollution, are the variety and range of excuses that countries, both developed and developing, are coming up with in lieu of dealing effectively with the problem of LBS and other sources of marine pollution at the international level.

New and strengthened global, regional and national initiatives are required to protect and restore the health and vitality of marine and coastal resources and ecosystems.

Greenpeace International calls upon all governments involved in the Preparatory Committee process of UNCED to sponsor and support measures designed to reverse and halt the increasing degradation of the marine environment. Towards this end, we ask government delegations at the third session of the PrepCom to put forward the following proposals, among other complementary actions, for adoption at the Rio Conference in order to assist in ensuring a productive, healthy and viable marine and coastal environment:

a global treaty on land-based pollution, negotiated and presented to a diplomatic conference for adoption and signing by June 1993, with the treaty providing a framework of principles and standards, as well as measures and mechanisms to assist regions and States in addressing land-based pollution issues; regional and national land-based pollution ‘action plans’, de- veloped in relation to the global land-based pollution treaty, and adopted by June 1984, that will provide ‘on-the-ground’ standards, obligations and mechanisms appropriate to a given region or State; integrated coastal zone management plans, developed and im- plemented at the national level as soon as possible - covering entire drainage basins, integrating land and sea resource values and uses, and including comprehensive planning of waste preven- tion and management, among other features - with such plans

MARINE POLICY January 1992 67

General issue.7 affecting land-based pollutiort

linked with the land-based pollution action plans; 0 expedited implementation of clean production technologies,

adopted as a key cross-sectoral item of concern, given its import- ance in the context of numerous Working Group III issues and many of the sectoral issues in Working Groups I and II; and

l a high-level, intergovernmental global oceans forum, established under the UN General Assembly’s auspices to assist in strategic planning and coordination of oceans-related activities within and among global and regional inter-governmental bodies.

68 MARINE POLICY January 1992