GPA Outreach  GPA Activity of the Month

 

As much as 80% of the pollution load in coastal waters and the deep oceans originates from land-based activities. This includes municipal, industrial and agricultural wastes and run-off, as well as the atmospheric deposition of pollutants from power generation, heavy industry, automobiles, etc. The pollutants include heavy metals and POPs, litter, nuclear waste, hydrocarbons and chemicals. These contaminants, as well as changes to naturally occuring loads of nutrients and sediments affect the most productive areas of the marine environment, including estuaries and near-shore coastal waters. Of growing concern is the impact of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and the resultant acidification of the sea. Compounding these changes, the marine environment is increasingly threatened by physical alterations to the coastal zone, including the destruction of habitats vital to maintain ecosystem health and ecosystem services. 
 

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) obliges governments to take measures to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment from land-based sources (see particularly Articles 194 and 207). In 1995, as many as 109 governments and the European Commission declared their commitment to protect and preserve the marine environment from the adverse environmental impacts of land-based activities by adopting the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) and the Washington Declaration. UNEP was tasked with the Secretariat function and established the GPA Coordination Office. The GPA enjoys almost universal support, with repeated calls by the General Assembly and other multilateral fora to accelerate its implementation. Increasingly the GPA is seen as a valuable tool to increase the reslience of coastal and marine environments to the pressures of climate change. The comprehensive, multi-sectoral and flexible approach of the GPA reflects the desire of Governments to strengthen collaboration and coordination at national, regional and global scales.