World Maritime Day 2007

27 September 2007

IMO's response to current environmental challenges

Today (27 September 2007) marks the 30th celebration of World Maritime Day, the annual occasion when the International Maritime Organization (IMO) leads the world in honouring shipping. This year the theme for World Maritime Day is IMO's response to current environmental challenges.

Addressing the international maritime community in his World Maritime Day message, IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos said that "there is today, quite rightly, a growing concern for our environment and a genuine fear that, if we do not change our ways right now, the damage we will inflict on our planet will render it incapable of sustaining - for future generations - the economy we have grown accustomed to over the better part of the past two centuries."

"The environmental credentials of every country and industry are now under sharper scrutiny than ever before. The pressure is mounting for every potential polluter, every user of energy and every conspicuous contributor to climate change and global warming to clean up their act and adopt greener practices."

Mr. Mitropoulos referred to shipping's green credentials as a mode of transport, pointing out that "the vast quantity of grain required to make the world's daily bread, for example, could not be transported any other way than by ship. Both the economic and environmental costs of using, say, airfreight, would be exorbitantly high. Moreover, set against land-based industry, shipping is a comparatively minor contributor, overall, to marine pollution from human activities."

While there is no doubt that the shipping industry, and IMO, still have more to do in this respect, there is, nevertheless, an impressive track record of continued environmental awareness, concern, action, response and overall success scored by the Organization and the maritime community and industry, Mr. Mitropoulos said, referring to IMO's work in developing and adopting the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, now known universally as MARPOL. Other conventions adopted by IMO address issues such as the dumping of wastes at sea, the use of harmful anti-fouling paint on ships' hulls; preparedness, response and co-operation in tackling pollution from oil and from hazardous and noxious substances; the management of ships' ballast water to avoid the transfer of alien species, and the right of States to intervene on the high seas to prevent, mitigate or eliminate danger to their coastlines or related interests from pollution following a maritime casualty.

IMO is currently developing a new mandatory instrument providing legally binding and globally applicable ship-recycling regulations for international shipping and recycling facilities, which is due for adoption in the 2008 2009 biennium. And, in May of this year, IMO adopted a new Convention on the removal of wrecks that may present either a hazard to navigation or a threat to the marine and coastal environments, or both.

"But perhaps the most significant threat to our environment today concerns atmospheric pollution," Mr. Mitropoulos said. "IMO continues to work towards further reductions as the evidence mounts and the world becomes more aware and more concerned about the further damage that might be caused if, from our various perspectives as Governments, industry and individuals, we do not address the challenges posed by air pollution, global warming and climate change."

The IMO Secretary-General noted that a good deal has already been done by the shipping sector to address emissions, with Annex VI of MARPOL, for example, setting limits on sulphur oxide (SOx) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from ship exhausts; prohibiting deliberate emissions of ozone-depleting substances; and putting a global cap on the sulphur content of fuel oil. The annex is currently undergoing a comprehensive review.

IMO has a work plan to address emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), Mr. Mitropoulos said, pointing out that, "whether we like it or not, there is no avoiding the fact that the modern world is utterly dependent on motorized transport systems that run largely on fossil fuels. Moreover, it is also a fact of life that the use of fossil fuels carries an environmental burden. An engine burning fossil fuel will emit a quantity of so-called greenhouse gases (GHGs), principally CO2, and these emissions are now widely accepted as being significant contributory factors towards global warming and climate change."

Mr. Mitropoulos said that the wide range of measures to prevent and control pollution caused by ships and to mitigate the effects of any damage that may occur, adopted and in development by IMO, were "all positive proof of the firm determination of Governments and the industry to reduce, to the barest minimum, the impact that shipping may have on our fragile environment."

He expressed concern, however, about the slow pace of ratification of IMO's environment-related conventions. It took almost eight years, for example, for MARPOL's Annex VI to reach its entry into force criteria - by which time, it needed to undergo a substantial review. The 2004 Ballast Water Management Convention is not yet in force and the 2001 International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships will only enter into force in September 2008.

"My concerns in this area are threefold: first, that by not bringing IMO instruments into force at a reasonable time after their adoption, their implementation is delayed, thereby depriving the environment of their beneficial effects; second, that any further delay in tackling the issues regulated by such instruments may spur unilateral or regional measures by individual countries or groups of countries, with all the attendant negative repercussions such actions entail; and, third, that any prolongation of the situation may lead to ambiguities, which, in the final analysis, may count against seafarers, the maritime industry and the environment," Mr. Mitropoulos said.

"The urgent need to ratify, as soon as possible, not only IMO's environmental but, indeed, all outstanding Conventions adopted under its auspices, should be promptly recognized by all the parties concerned. After all, it was thanks to the strenuous and concerted efforts of the same Governments, working together under the aegis of the Organization, over long periods of time, that these Conventions were developed and adopted in the first place," he added.

In conclusion, Mr. Mitropoulos said that the decision of the IMO Council to select environmental issues to take centre stage this year, as the theme for World Maritime Day, was timely and appropriate.

"It is only very recently that mankind has begun to understand that the planet that sustains us and gives us life is a fragile entity and that our actions can, and do, have massive repercussions. That the earth and its resources do not belong to us and are not ours to squander without thought for the future is not proving an easy lesson for us to learn, but we are gradually succeeding - or, at least, waking up to the enormity of the task that confronts us," Mr. Mitropoulos said.

Source: IMO