Lärm in den Meeren ist ein intensiv diskutiertes Thema bei der UN-Artenschutzkonferenz #cmscop12 in Manila. Nicolas Entrup, Konsulent von OceanCare und NRDC, bezieht im Namen von zahlreichen NGOs Position für die Beschlussfassung von Richtlinien zu Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungen vor Aktivitäten, die im Meer Lärm verursachen.

Am Dienstag, 24.10.2017, stand das Thema UNTERWASSERLÄRM erstmals auf der Tagesordnung der 12. Vertragsstaatenkonferenz der Bonner Konvention. Im Zentrum der Diskussion stehen Richtlinien, die den Behörden bei der Durchführung von Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungen (UVP) helfen sollen, Lärm verursachende Eingriffe besser bewerten zu können. Die Richtlinien wurden von internationalen Experten erarbeitet, und nach einer Konsultationsphase, die mehr als ein Jahr dauerte, liegen sie nun zur Beschlussfassung vor.

Insbesondere die Ölindustrie versucht die Annahme dieser Richtlinien zu verhindern und zeigt damit, dass sie kein Interesse daran hat, dass transparente, qualitativ hochwertige UVPs durchgeführt werden. Das Thema wurde einer Arbeitsgruppe zugewiesen, um von den Staaten unter Einbindung von NGO-Vertretern im Detail diskutiert zu werden. OceanCare und NRDC sind in der Arbeitsgruppe vertreten.

Hier geht es zum Podcast des Radiointerviews mit FM4 im Vorfeld der Tagung.

Text der Stellungnahme:

Thank you Mr. Chair,

as this is our first time that we take the floor, OceanCare would like to thank the Philippines government and the people here in Manila for their great hospitality; and also express our thanks to them and the CMS Secretariat for a very well organised conference.

On behalf of Humane Society International, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Natural Resources Defense Council, OceanCare, Pro Wildlife, Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Animal Protection, and WWF, we congratulate the CMS Secretariat for the substantial work that has gone into developing the guidelines for environmental impact assessments for activities generating marine noise. This has been a considerable body of work and it has been of the highest quality, thanks to the wide input from international experts into the development of the guidelines. We also note our appreciation to Wild Migration in convening those experts.

The important issue of marine noise and the substantive threats that it poses to wildlife is, quite rightly, being increasingly recognised across a number of international forums. These include the United Nations and the June 2017 UN Conference to support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (the “UN Ocean Conference”), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Whaling Commission, OSPAR, IUCN and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which in Decision XII/23 encourages governments to require EIAs for noise-generating activities. The guidelines annexed to this resolution provide a science-based new resource to parties to ensure they can fulfil that commitment. We welcome the lead the CMS family is showing on this issue. It is critical to recognize ocean noise as a harmful marine pollutant that threatens many migratory species.

However, human-generated marine noise continues to increase in the marine environment and now poses a major threat to many marine species, including cetaceans and other marine animals listed on the CMS Appendices. While the impacts of marine noise on marine mammals is starting to be documented and better understood, the threat noise poses to other marine life, including commercially important fish species, zooplankton and krill, is still emerging as a significant concern.

Such species are, of course, key components of marine food webs and also a primary cause for the migration of many marine species – in order to exploit these food resources. So it is now critical that impacts on these keystone species and the potential for prey scarcity is taken into account when assessing marine noise.

The guidelines in the annex to the marine noise resolution provide a valuable tool for parties to manage the threat of marine noise.

We strongly commend them to parties and urge their adoption through this resolution.
Thank you