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ACTIO{ PLAN FOR TI-E PROTECTION tr TI€ MARITf ENVIROiIMENT
AID COASTAL AREAS tr TIf SOUTH{AsT PACIFTC
Luie Arriaga N'L
Cornision Permanente del Pacifico Sur
Prez 37O y Robles 6oP, Guito, Ecuador.
ABSTRACT
The five countries bordering the Pacific eoast of South Anrerica (Colombia,
Chiler Ecuador, Peru and Panama) met in a conference of Plenipotentiaries in
November I981 to sign the I'Aetion Plan for the Protection of the Marine
Environnent and Coastal Areas of the South-Eest Pacific", which includes five
cornponents: Environrnental Assessment; Environmental Managementl a Legal
Component; Institutional and Financial Arrangements; and SupporLing Measures.
The conferenee also approved a 'fCmvention for the Protection of the Marine
Environnent and Coastal Area of the South-East Pacifict'and an "Agreement on
Regional Co-ryeration in Combating Pollution of the South-East Pacific by
Hydrocarbans and other Harmful Substances in Cases of Ernergencyr'. This paper
describes the activities in progness to implement the Action plan.
The member stales of the Permanent Commission of the South Pacific (CPPS, originally
Chile' Ecuador and Peru, with Colombia joininq in 1979), adopted as an activity of "o;n1non
interest the s[udy of the prob.lems of marine pollution in the South-East paciiic, with the
goal of developing regional co-qeration for the protection of the marine environment.
The first regional activity was a sunvey on pollution in the South-East Pacific (Chile,
Ecuador and Peru) in 1975 wit,h the support of FAO. As a result, a CppS/FAO/1OC/UNEp
International Workshop m Marine Pollution in the South-East Pacific took place in Santiago
de Chile (November, 1978)' with the participation of the five states of the region: Colomb'rla,
Chile' Ecuador, Panama and Peru. This nreeting laid the basis for the Regional Action plan
which is being executed at Bhe present time.
In 1979' the Governinq Council of lhe United Nations Environment programme (UNEp)
ryproved the inclusion of lhe South-East Pacific as one of Lhe areas in ttre tf{Ep Regional
Seas Programme. This has encouraged the application of the Regional Seas 4proach: to
establish Bhe causes and consequences of environrnental degrJdation, and Lo combat
environmental problems through an integrated regional 4proach to the management of the
coastal and rnarine areas.
Preparstory phase of the Action Plan (Julv l9B0 - December l98l)
A UNEP-funded project permitted the analysis of the pollution problems, the existing
capacity for research and management, and the legal framewonk for environmental protectionl
as related to the marine environnent and coastal areas of the South-East Pacific. Based on
this informalion, the Action Plan and its programmes were elaborated. The main results of
this phase were ari follows: