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A ship recycling yard in Bangladesh, November 2016. © International Maritime
Organization


THE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION IN PREVENTING THE POLLUTION
OF THE WORLD'S OCEANS FROM SHIPS AND SHIPPING


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


KITACK LIM

Kitack Lim is Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization.
16 May 2017

 

May 2017, Nos. 1 & 2 Volume LIV, Our Ocean, Our World

Shipping is a key user of the oceans, delivering more than 80 per cent of world
trade, taking ferry passengers to their destinations and carrying millions of
tourists on cruises. Annually, more than 50,000 seagoing ships carry between
them more than 10 billion tons of vital and desired cargoes, including
commodities, fuel, raw materials and consumer goods.

As the United Nations agency responsible for developing and adopting measures to
improve the safety and security of international shipping and to prevent
pollution from ships, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has an
integral role in meeting the targets set out in United Nations Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and
marine resources for sustainable development.

The increase in the number and the size of ships and the volume of cargo carried
over the past five decades has gone hand in hand with the work of IMO, through
its 172 member States, to create the legal and technical framework within which
shipping has become progressively cleaner and safer. Of course, there remains
work to be done. IMO will continue its efforts, in partnership with member
States and other organizations, to implement and support the enforcement of its
regulations.

Formed by means of the 1948 Convention on the International Maritime
Organization, IMO initially focused on maritime safety and navigation. Then, in
the 1960s, the world became more aware of the spillage of oil into the oceans
and seas through accidents or as a result of poor operating practices. Spurred
by major oil pollution incidents, such as the Torrey Canyon disaster off the
south-west coast of the United Kingdom in 1967, IMO embarked on an ambitious
programme of work on marine pollution prevention and response, and on liability
and compensation issues. A key outcome was the adoption, in 1973, of the
International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, universally
known as MARPOL.

From the start, MARPOL addressed not just pollution by oil from ships (covered
in Annex I) but also noxious liquid substances, such as chemicals, carried in
bulk (Annex II); harmful substances carried in packaged form (Annex III); sewage
discharges into the sea (Annex IV); and the disposal at sea of ship-generated
garbage (Annex V). Under Annex V, a general prohibition applies to discharging
all garbage from ships, while discharging plastics is subject to a total,
globally applicable ban.

Later, in 1997, IMO added a new Annex VI to MARPOL dealing with atmospheric
pollution from ships. Today, Annex VI addresses air pollution from sulphur and
other harmful emissions, such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. In
2011, IMO became the first international regulator for a transport sector to
adopt globally binding energy efficiency requirements, which apply to all ships
globally, regardless of trading pattern or flag State, aimed at reducing
greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping.

MARPOL Annex VI also incorporates regulations for ozone-depleting substances,
volatile organic compounds, shipboard incinerators, reception facilities and
fuel oil quality. All these measures have a significant, beneficial impact on
the atmospheric environment, and also on human health for people living in or
near port cities and coastal communities.

Under MARPOL Annex VI, Emission Control Areas (ECAs) for sulphur oxide and
nitrogen oxide emissions have been designated, with a strict 0.10 per cent by
mass (m/m) limit on sulphur in fuel oil. In a move that demonstrates a clear
commitment by IMO to ensuring that shipping meets its environmental obligations,
the global sulphur limit out­side ECAs will be cut to 0.50 per cent m/m, from
3.5 per cent m/m, from 1 January 2020.

Today, the expanded, amended and updated MARPOL Convention remains the most
important, as well as the most comprehensive, international treaty covering the
prevention of both marine and atmospheric pollution by ships, from operational
or accidental causes. By providing a solid foundation for substantial and
continued reductions in ship-source pollution, the Convention continues to be
relevant today.

MARPOL also recognizes the need for more stringent requirements to manage and
protect so-called Special Areas, due to their ecology and their sea traffic. A
total of 19 Special Areas have been designated. They include enclosed or
semi­-enclosed seas, such as the Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea and
Red Sea areas, and much larger ocean expanses such as the Southern South Africa
waters and the Western European waters. This recognition of Special Areas,
along­ side global regulation, is a clear indication of a strong IMO awareness
of-and total commitment to-the fundamental importance of protecting and
preserving the world's seas and oceans as vital life support systems for all
peoples.

The Antarctic has enjoyed Special Area status since 1992. Oily discharges into
the sea and garbage disposal overboard are totally prohibited. In addition, a
total ban on the carriage or use of heavy fuel oils took effect on 1 August 2011
under a new MARPOL Annex I regulation. Polar waters also benefit from special
measures under the IMO Polar Code, which entered into force on 1 January 2017
for ships operating in both Antarctic and Arctic waters.

IMO also has a process to designate Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs),
which are subject to associated protective measures, such as mandatory
ship-routeing systems. There are currently 14 areas (plus two extensions)
protected in this way, including those covering UNESCO World Heritage Marine
Sites, such as the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), the Galápagos Archipelago
(Ecuador), the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (United States of
America), and the Wadden Sea (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands). This
long-established practice of designating Special Areas and PSSAs fully supports
the SDG 14 target to increase coverage of marine protected areas.

While MARPOL specifically targets accidental and operational discharges from
ship operations, IMO also actively addresses marine pollution from land-based
sources, albeit indirectly, through the London Convention on the Prevention of
Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972, and its 1996
Protocol. The Protocol adopts a precautionary approach, prohibiting the
discharge of wastes at sea except for a few specified on a list of permitted
wastes, such as dredged material.

The London Convention and Protocol regime also contributes to climate change
mitigation by regulating for carbon capture and sequestration in subsea
geological formations and providing regulations and guidance on how to assess
proposals for marine geoengineering.

The process of adopting all these measures at IMO begins with structured fora,
in which member States debate, agree and adopt universal measures aimed at safe
and sustainable shipping with minimal adverse environmental impact.

The essential path to implementation then follows. IMO works with various
stakeholders and partners to build capacity and expertise among its member
States to write IMO standards into their own national maritime legislation, and
then to implement and enforce that legislation effectively.

IMO has a long history of working with key donors, including the European Union,
the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation, the Korea International Cooperation Agency, and shipping and
maritime organizations such as IPIECA, the global oil and gas industry
association for environmental and social issues.

A large number of marine environmental projects have been implemented, with
support from a range of regional organizations, including the Secretariat of the
Pacific Regional Environment Programme, the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency
Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea, the Regional Organization for the
Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the Regional
Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment, the Commission on the
Protection of the Black Sea Against Pollution, and the South Asia Co-operative
Environment Programme.

IMO has pioneered a series of projects based on a global partnership model known
as Glo-X, which is being used to accelerate legal, policy and institutional
reforms in developing countries to implement international conventions while, at
the same time, leveraging private sector partnerships to accelerate research and
development and technological innovations by forming global industry alliances
and facilitating information exchange.

The GloBallast Partnerships Project (2007-2017), a joint initiative of GEF, the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IMO, has been successful in
assisting developing countries in reducing the transfer of potentially harmful
aquatic organisms and pathogens in ships ballast water and implementing the IMO
Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention. The BWM Convention will enter into
force in September 2017 and will require ships to manage their ballast water to
avoid the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens, and protect the
marine environment, human health, property and resources.

A second global partnerships project is the GEF-UNDP­IMO Global Maritime Energy
Efficiency Partnership project (GloMEEP), which is working in 10 lead pilot
countries (Argentina, China, Georgia, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Morocco, Panama,
Philippines and South Africa). It aims to create global, regional and national
partnerships to build capacity to address maritime energy efficiency—in other
words, to address greenhouse gas emissions from ships—and for countries to bring
this into the mainstream within their own development policies, programmes  and
dialogues.

Another current project, funded by the European Union, is the Global Maritime
Technology Cooperation Centre (MTCC) Network (GMN), which is establishing a
global network of five MTCCs in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and
the Pacific. The aim is to help beneficiary countries limit and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions from their shipping sectors. The project will encourage
the uptake of energy efficiency technologies through the dissemination of
technical information and know-how.

Through this network of MTCCs, the project will enable developing countries in
these regions, and in particular, least developed countries and small island
developing States, to effectively implement energy efficiency measures in
maritime transport through technical assistance and capacity­building. Both the
GloMEEP and GMN projects will support IMO member States in climate change
mitigation, the key aim of SDG 13.

In other oceans-related partnerships, IMO is a partner in, and secretariat for,
the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental
Protection (GESAMP), which advises the United Nations system on scientific
components of marine environmental protection. GESAMP evaluates the
environmental hazards of harmful substances carried by ships and reviews
applications for "active substances" to be used in ballast water management
systems, thereby providing inputs into the regulatory process at IMO. GESAMP
also provides a systematic overview of new and emerging issues to inform its
nine sponsoring United Nations organizations.

Recent key reports by GESAMP on microplastics in the oceans have contributed to
the widening knowledge of the sources and fate of marine litter, specifically
microplastics, in the oceans. IMO is also a co-lead for sea-based sources of
marine litter, together with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, in the Global Partnership on Marine Litter, which is managed by the
United Nations Environment Programme.

The IMO track record in minimizing pollution from ships, both into the seas and
oceans and into the atmosphere, speaks for itself. The Organization is fully
committed to working through its member States and with its partners to continue
to develop, maintain and implement a set of global regulations to ensure
shipping's sustainable use of the oceans.

Notes

1      United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Review of Maritime
Transport 2016 (UNCTAD/RMT/2016), pp. X, 87. Available from
http://unctad.org/en/Publicationslibrary/rmt2016_en.pdf.

 

The UN Chronicle is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior
United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the
United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United
Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used,
in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the
United Nations.




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