Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback Maritime Studies

Editors --- "In Brief" [2008] MarStudies 25; (2008) 161 Maritime Studies 25

• IN BRIEF
• World ports cooperate in combating climate change
• New marine laws for PNG

IN BRIEF^[1]

prepared by Mikhail Kashubsky

World ports cooperate in combating climate change

The C40 World Ports Climate Conference was held in Rotterdam, 9-11 July 2008. C40 is a world alliance of large cities dedicated to the issue of global warming.

Organised by the Port of Rotterdam and the Rotterdam Climate Initiative under the support of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH), the Conference was attended by 55 ports from across the world.

The Conference adopted at its closing session the World Ports Climate Declaration, in which the participating ports proactively committed themselves to reduce CO2 emissions and improve air quality by developing and implementing their integrated programs.

The Declaration addresses the following main issues:

• reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from ocean-going shipping;

• reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from port operations and development;

• reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from hinterland transport;

• enhancement of the use of renewable energy;

• development and auditing of CO2 inventories.

Among distinguished guests addressing the audience were the Honourable Ivo Opstelten, Mayor of Rotterdam, Mr Ruud Lubbers, former prime minister of the Netherlands (the conference chairman), and IMO Secretary-General Efthimos Mitropoulos.

At the closing ceremony moderated by former IAPH President Pieter Struijs, the Conference Director, IAPH President O.C. Phang made a presentation entitled ‘World’s Ports and Challenge to Climate Change’, in which she urged the world port community to take action without delay, calling for a worldwide and sustained approach to successfully contribute to abatement of the global warming and a close collaboration with IMO and other international bodies, regional ports associations.

IAPH provided its full support in organisation of this conference by encouraging its members to take part in it, in accordance with its ‘Resolution on a world wide approach to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in ports’ adopted at mid-term Board meeting in Dunkirk, France on 16 April 2008.

IAPH will continue to support the cause of this conference and take a leading role in promoting the agreed actions. A follow-up meeting to work on the agreed actions will take place in November 2008 in the port city of Los Angeles, USA.

A copy of the World Ports Climate Declaration may be downloaded at the following link: <http://wpccrotterdam.com/usr-data/general/Declaration.pdf>

Source: International Association of Ports and Harbors, Media Release, 18 July 2008; IAPH World Ports Climate Declaration, 11 July 2008.

New marine laws for PNG

Marine resources are of utmost importance to Australia’s closest neighbour Papua New Guinea (PNG), which hosts some of the last remaining pristine coral reefs of the world, where coastal peoples are still reliant on subsistence fishing for day-to-day survival, and where ongoing development of commercial fisheries forms a vital part of the country’s economic future.

These resources face a number of significant threats, including pollution from ships. The country hosts a number of international shipping lanes, including the main transit routes between the major east coast ports of Australia and commodity markets in north Asia. There have been several incidents in PNG resulting in pollution in recent years.

As part of efforts to address this threat, in 2008 Cairns-based EcoStrategic Consultants was engaged by the PNG National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA), through maritime law firm BWA, to develop new marine pollution legislation for PNG. The new laws will implement all of the relevant Conventions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and provide PNG with a 21st Century legal regime for marine environment protection.

The drafting phase of the project was completed in November 2008, producing five new Bills with four supporting Regulations, as follows:

• Marine Pollution (Ships & Installations) Bill and Regulation, implementing MARPOL and AFS Conventions,

• Marine Pollution (Sea Dumping) Bill and Regulation, implementing London Protocol,

• Marine Pollution (Preparedness & Response) Bill (no Regulation), implementing OPRC Convention, OPRC-HNS Protocol, Intervention Convention and Intervention HNS Protocol,

• Marine Pollution (Liability & Cost Recovery) Bill and Regulation, implementing CLC 92, Fund 92, Supplementary Fund and Bunkers Convention; and

• Marine Pollution (Ballast Water Control) Bill and Regulation, implementing Ballast Water Convention.

The project involved a comprehensive stakeholder consultation process, and cabinet and parliamentary submission papers have been prepared for both passing of the Bills, and accession to those IMO marine environment protection Conventions that PNG has not yet ratified. If passed and implemented, the new Bills will significantly increase protection of PNG’s vital coastal and marine resources from sea-based sources of pollution and related impacts, while allowing the sustainable development of the maritime sector in PNG. They will also assist in the protection for the vital sealane through Torres Strait, which PNG shares with Australia, and which is now part of the Great Barrier Reef Particularly Sensitive Sea Area as declared by IMO.

Source: Steve Raaymakers, EcoStrategic Consultants, steve@eco-strategic.com, www.eco-strategic.com

MARION WARD

It is with regret that the Australian Association of Maritime Affairs (AAMA) has accepted the resignation of Dr Marion Ward from its Board. Dr Ward is one of our longest serving Board members having been associated with the AAMA from the earliest days of its predecessor, the Australian Centre for Maritime Studies (ACMS).

Marion Ward is an applied geographer who was awarded a Distinguished New Zealand Geographer Medal in July 2003 for her many achievements as a "transformer of place". Between 1973 and 2002 she worked on or led 80 missions to developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, working at the community, regional and national levels, to resolve transport, communication, water supply and sanitation issues. She has published extensively and worked as a consultant since the early 1970s. Through her work she has impacted on millions of people by making recommendations related to the improvement of their living conditions. Her special interests in shipping and community development were clearly evident in the contributions she made as a long-term member of the Boards of the AAMA and ACMS.

Over the years, Marion Ward has been a main stay of the association’s publishing programme. In 1982, she was the co-editor of Australia’s Maritime Horizons in the 1980s, the first in the series of Occasional Papers in Maritime Affairs that were published by ACMS through the 1980s and which Marion co-edited. More recently, she was for many years the extremely hard-working and diligent Editor of Maritime Studies. We are extremely appreciative of her efforts in helping to keep our publishing programme afloat.

We wish Marion Ward a long and happy retirement.

^[1] The information and material used to compile this section often come from other sources. Every effort has been made to acknowledge such sources and, where possible, to contact copyright holders.