Land-Based Marine Pollution

Land-based pollution can be defined as pollution of maritime zones caused by discharges from coastal establishments or other sources situated on land or artificial structures. The Baltic and Mediterranean Sea regions have particularly high levels of land-based marine pollution. [1].

Despite references to land-based pollution in global instruments such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the 1985 UNEP Guidelines, the main management efforts have been initiated at the regional level. The UNITAR’s workshops have focussed on the Mediterranean Sea region which is suffering from increasing environmental pressures due to industrialization, urbanization and tourism. The main applicable legal instruments are the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention, 1976, amended 1995), and the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution for Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBS Protocol, 1980, amended 1996).