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The primary aim of the Advisory Committee on Protection of
the Sea (ACOPS) is to promote and implement strategies for
the sustainable development of the coastal and marine
environment, through scientific, legal and policy research,
advisory and public awareness activities, and development
of project proposals for Partnership Conferences of all
stakeholders. Work is carried out at the global, regional
and national levels. Given that effective responses often
demand complex cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary
approaches, assistance is provided to both countries and
regions in the development and implementation of concrete
initiatives and projects. Studying our seas and oceans both
as indicators of pollution and as a threatened resource in
their own right, ACOPS strives to identify cost-effective,
long-term environmental solutions that can be effectively
implemented across the world, and to present these
solutions to stakeholders in order to solicit commitments
for concrete actions.
Established in 1952 as one of the world's first environmental
Non-Governmental Organisations, ACOPS originally
concentrated on encouraging international agreements to
reduce marine oil pollution. Since then, ACOPS has expanded
its interests to include land-based sources of marine
pollution, as well as other aspects of degradation of the
coastal and marine environment.
Our operations include:
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assistance to national governments and regional
organisations in the development and implementation of
projects, activities, and mechanisms for the protection and
development of the coastal and marine environment;
Through
comprehensive processes of characterisation and
prioritisation of environmental issues at both national and
regional levels, in concert with key stakeholders from all
levels, ACOPS has succeeded in identifying crucial areas,
hot-spots, and issues that demand solutions if the coasts
and oceans of the world are to be sustainably developed.
These concrete projects are presented at regional
Partnership Conferences, a mechanism that brings together
potential partners and stakeholders in a process that
generates a sense of ownership and of commitment –
requisite elements for ensuring the long-term
sustainability that environmental solutions demand.
ACOPS is an international private, independent,
non-political organisation enjoying UK charitable status,
funded by a variety of foundations, governmental and
intergovernmental institutions, companies and private
individuals. It has a broad constituent base, consisting of
international associations of local authorities, wildlife
and environmental protection organisations, trade unions,
academic bodies, ports and harbours, tourist and shipping
industries, as well as eminent individual members which
include some of the world's leading politicians,
administrators, scientists, economists and lawyers.
ACOPS works closely with institutions and organisations
within the United Nations system, both as a facilitator of
processes that require consensus and political will, and as
co-ordinator and executing agency of strategic projects
that result in concrete proposals. Work undertaken in
Africa through a GEF MSP project, in which IOC-UNESCO
actively participated, and whose scope UNEP and the
Co-ordinating Office of the GPA broadened by mobilising
resources for the inclusion of additional countries, are
examples of this. Similarly, the success of the NPA-Arctic
programme both from the point of view of scientific rigour
and political support within the Russian Federation, has
confirmed ACOPS as a strategic partner for GEF, UNEP and
other bilateral donors.
ACOPS is based in London,
but its overseas offices in Bogotá
and
Tauranga (New Zealand), and a network of experts, give it a
strong world-wide presence equally in the south and the
north,
which is vital to the success of its work. A
strong team of world renowned experts, many of whom have
held or hold high-level positions in key organisations at
the national, regional, and global level, work closely with
ACOPS on its various programmes. Their fields of expertise
cover such vital fields as policy development, fisheries,
corporate environmental management, oceanography, pollution
research and control, biology, and tourism, thus providing
a very solid basis to the multidisciplinary, transectoral
approaches favoured by ACOPS.
Furthermore, ACOPS’ distinguished international panel of
Vice-Presidents takes a leading role in formulating
policies and overseeing their implementation within their
own countries and regions. Half of ACOPS' Board of
Vice-Presidents are from the Northern Hemisphere and half
from the Southern Hemisphere, including countries with
economies in transition. All ACOPS' officers are senior
political figures, covering all colours of the political
spectrum, giving ACOPS its independent status.
ACOPS co-operates closely with governments world-wide, as
well as with the Commission of the European Union, the
Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the Global
International Waters Assessment (GIWA), the Co-ordination
Office of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection
of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA),
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the
International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, and
other bodies such as Global Legislators for a Balanced
Environment (GLOBE). ACOPS has signed Memoranda of
Understanding (MOU) with UNEP, IOC of UNESCO, the Ministry
of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian
Federation, and academic institutions assisting in research
projects such as the Plymouth University and the Imperial
College, London. In addition, ACOPS' efforts are
strengthened by its association, as an observer, with major
intergovernmental agencies such as the African Ministerial
Conference on Environment (AMCEN), the Arctic Council, the
International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the
International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPCF), and
the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
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