OSPAR

The OSPAR Commission is the means by which fifteen Governments of the western coasts and catchments of Europe, together with the European Community, cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.

The area covered by the OSPAR Convention extends from the North Pole down to 36˚N (the latitude of the Straits of Gibraltar) and from the Atlantic Coasts of Europe out to the mid-Atlantic (42˚W)

OSPAR is implementing a suite of five thematic strategies to address the main threats that have been identified within its competence (the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Strategy, the Eutrophication Strategy, the Hazardous Substances Strategy, the Offshore Industry Strategy and the Radioactive Substances Strategy), together with a Strategy for the Joint Assessment and Monitoring Programme, which assesses the status of the marine environment and follows up implementation of the strategies and the resulting benefits to the marine environment. These six strategies fit together to underpin the ecosystem approach.