Pollution Intervention and Response
The Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation Convention (OPRC Convention) was adopted in 1990 and entered into force in 1995. An IMO convention, it was designed to help governments combat major pollution incidents by facilitating co-operation and mutual assistance in preparing for and responding to major pollution incidents. Requirements regarding oil pollution emergency plans on installations are set out in the OPRC convention. Sixty-six nations are parties to the OPRC Convention.
In 2000, the IMO adopted the Protocol on Preparedness, Response and Cooperation to Pollution Incidents by Hazardous and Noxious Substances (2000) (HNS Protocol), which follows the principles of the OPRC Convention for hazardous and noxious substances other than oil. With only one contracting party, the HNS Protocol has not entered into force.
Regional centres have been established in Malta (in co-operation with UNEP) and in the Caribbean to assist in training and anti-pollution efforts.
The International Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties 1969 entered into force in 1975. This convention affirms the right of a coastal state to take measures to protect its territory from oil pollution from casualties occurring on the high seas. The convention has 77 contracting parties. A 1973 protocol to this convention extends its principles to substances other than oil. The protocol entered into force in 1983 and currently has 44 contracting parties.
Industry-specific guidance on emergency response is provided by ISO 15544. (19)
Biological Diversity
At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders agreed on a comprehensive strategy for ‘sustainable development’. One of the key agreements adopted at Rio was the Convention on Biological Diversity. This convention sets out commitments for maintaining the world’s ecological underpinnings whilst maintaining economic development. The convention establishes three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources. This free-standing convention entered into force in 1993 and has been ratified or otherwise accepted by 186 nations.
Enforcement
While there is a commonly held view that international agreements and their regulations direct the actions of industrial activities, they do not. It must be emphasised that it is only through the establishment of implementation and enforcement of legislation or regulations at a national level that these agreements are given practical effect.
There are no established means for states party to UNCLOS to force non-parties, or even other states party to UNCLOS, to effectively implement the convention; however, there is growing pressure for the industrialised nations to take action against non- conforming nations through trade agreements and through restrictions or conditions placed on aid and development programmes.
Measuring and Reporting Environmental Performance
Most of the conventions described here have one or more measures intended to foster compliance through requirements for monitoring or reporting of conformance with provisions of the convention or its regulations for compliance purposes. Some are straightforward, for example requirements under Annex I of MARPOL 73/78 for oil content meters and recording devices to ensure that the regulations regarding percentage oil content of ships’ bilge water discharge are met. Others, such as those agreed under the Framework Convention on Climate Change, require governments to collect and aggregate large volumes of data.
In late 1997, a private-sector initiative was begun with the mission of developing globally applicable guidelines for corporations to use for voluntarily reporting on their economic, environmental and social performance. While targeted initially at corporations, the goal was to develop guidelines thatcould be used by any business or governmental or non-governmental organisation.
Convened by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, in partnership with UNEP, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was established as a permanent, independent global institution in April 2002. The GRI released its ‘Sustainability Reporting Guidelines' (20) in June 2000. These guidelines encourage ‘triple bottom line’ reporting of an organisation’s economic, environmental and social performance. They use 16 high-level ‘core’ environmental performance indicators and 19 additional indicators.
ISO 14004 (21) provides practical guidance about environmental systems, including general guidance about external reporting. ISO 14031 (22) provides guidance on the selection and implementation of performance indicators that can be used by management of a company to evaluate and report (internally or externally) on the company’s environmental performance. ISO is developing a further standard to provide guidance on communicating environmental performance. (23)
To date, there is no consensus on the appropriate measures of environmental performance for the exploration and production industries; however, the matter is under active consideration by the OGP.
While it is relatively simple to measure or at least produce reliable estimates of discharges and emissions related to drilling activity, selection of measures by which performance is to be evaluated poses some difficulty. For example, the volume of drill cuttings produced in drilling a well is generally considered a matter of environmental concern.
Sections of footage drilled as a normalisation factor would provide for straightforward comparison on a well-to-well basis; however, it could result in a non- productive well being considered as superior to one that is highly productive.
Category:
Environment
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