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Proposal for protected area on the Arctic Ice High Seas

Greenpeace welcomes OSPAR’s commitment to develop proposal for a marine protected area on the Arctic Ice High Seas in 2016

Ostend, Belgium, 26 June, 2015 -- Delegates of the North-East Atlantic's OSPAR Commission [1], who met this week, have today reached an agreement to coordinate work with the Arctic Council [2] towards further protection of OSPAR’s Region 1 (Arctic Waters).

Amongst the effective measures this collaboration could implement is the development of a marine protected area (MPA) on the Arctic Ice High Seas for 2016 as has been reflected as a priority by consensus of the OSPAR Commission. The work around it will be led by the German government.

Norway, Denmark and Iceland (all Arctic coastal states in OSPAR) have supported the Arctic Council in stymieing OSPAR’s work towards protecting part of this Region I. The Arctic Council can not introduce legally binding measures to protect the Arctic, but OSPAR can, and must.

Greenpeace Spain Senior Policy Advisor, Sara del Río said:

“Greenpeace expects the dialogue with the Arctic Council and its members to be an active one supported by all parties, with a focus on identifying what actions are needed, who is going to lead them and what OSPAR's contribution to protect Region 1 (Arctic Waters) will be. Action to protect the Arctic marine environment from trends of increasing pressure from human activities is already urgent and will become ever more important as the impacts of climate change and acidification continue to grow and expand. Greenpeace remains willing to work with all parties towards such progress. We are prepared to be patient. But to do that, we have to know that the same level of will and ambition, which supported the OSPAR Convention itself and its progressive strategies, still remain today.”

Over seven million citizens worldwide and civil society groups are demanding an Arctic sanctuary. The declaration of an MPA in waters increasingly exposed to exploitation by retreating ice cover would be a major step towards further Arctic protection.


ENDS


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