South East Pacific

Permanent Commission of South Pacific

A. Overview

The South-East Pacific region spans the entire length of the Pacific coast of South America from Panama to Cape Horn, encompassing tropical, sub-tropical, temperate and sub Antarctic systems.

The region covered by the Permanent Commission of the South Pacific and the South-East Pacific Action Plan (PSE Action Plan), is exposed to great natural and anthropogenic issues exerted on its ecosystems. Pollution, coastal zone development, overexploitation of certain fisheries, high environmental variability (ENSO), effects of climate change, expansion of harmful algal blooms, illegal, unreported and non-regulated finishing. These and the lack of knowledge of resources in marine areas outside national jurisdictions, accompanied by the growing demand for the exploitation of non-living resources, all lead to impacts that must be put into context and their consequences dealt with via a systematic and common regional approach. The Southeast Pacific has geographic, biological, oceanographic and ecological characteristics which makes it a unique ocean area. This region is affected by warm currents from the equator (Panama Current) and cold currents (Humboldt Current System) which force high primary productivity and diverse species of high commercial and ecological value. This region also contains submarine mountains and canyons, mangroves, coral reefs and other vulnerable ecosystems, which are of global importance.

The future priorities for the region will focus on: the full implementation of existing legal instruments, developing transboundary pollution monitoring and control programmes; the protection of threatened species, including marine mammals and turtles; the prevention of the introduction of alien invasive species; and to pursue a strong programme of public education and awareness.

B. Introduction

The Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (CPPS) is an intergovernmental body, created in 1952, by agreement between Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The CPPS is a legal entity under international law in accordance with the provisions of the Paracas Convention, Peru, of January 14, 1966.

The South-East Pacific Action Plan was adopted in 1981 with the signing of the ‘Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and Coastal Areas in the South-East Pacific’ (Lima Convention). The Contracting Parties to the Convention, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru, committed to protecting and preserving the marine environment and coastal areas of the South-East Pacific from all types and sources of pollution, taking into account the significance of the economic, social and cultural interlinkages between the countries within the ocean region.

The CPPS is the Executive Secretary of the Action Plan for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Areas of the Southeast Pacific. The Action Plan is implemented within the framework of inter-agency cooperation between the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (CPPS), UNEP and some two dozen agencies, programmes and Convention Secretariats. A few years ago, the region signed a historic agreement with the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SPREP), to cooperate in the protection of a more extensive area of the Pacific.

The Permanent Commission of the South Pacific is of great value to the member states of the region. Its capacity to articulate and bring together solid knowledge of the structural elements that determine the regional and international agenda in maritime affairs, in applied science, as well as in the development of policies, makes it a key entity at an organizational level.

C. The Lima Convention and its related legal instruments

1. Action Plan for the Protection of the marine environment and coastal areas of the Southeast Pacific (1991, as modified in 2013)
2. Protocol for the Conservation and Administration of the Marine and Coastal Protected Areas of the Southeast Pacific (1989)
3. Protocol for the Protection of the Southeast Pacific against Radioactive Contamination. (1989)
4. Complementary Protocol to the Agreement on Regional Cooperation to Combat Pollution of the Southeast Pacific by Hydrocarbons and other Harmful Substances. (1983)
5. Protocol for the Protection of the Southeast Pacific against Pollution from Land Sources (1983).
6. The South-East Pacific Action Plan was adopted in 1981 together with the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and Coastal Zones of the South-East Pacific (Lima Convention) and its associated protocols.
7. Agreement on Regional Cooperation to Combat Pollution of the Southeast Pacific by Hydrocarbons and other Harmful Substances in Cases of Emergency (1981).
8. Convention on the Organization of the Permanent Commission of Exploitation and Conservation of the Maritime Resources on the South Pacifiic; Santiago, Chile, August 18, 1952.

D. Organizational structure

1. National focal points act as official channel of the State members of the Southeast Pacific Action Plan, for communication and exchange of scientific and technical information with the Executive Secretariat and the other NFPs among other duties.
2. The Consultative Group – It is represented by National Focal Points and national experts 
3. Executive Secretariat 
4. The General Authority - The highest political decision-making body of the Southeast Pacific Action Plan.
5. The organization has also established several working groups, group of experts, and networks, to carry out specific activities. In this regard, there are the mangroves experts group, the working group on marine litter, and the Regional Network of Coastal and Marine Protected Areas in the Southeast Pacific. 

E. Areas of work of the South-East Pacific Action Plan

1. Marine Protected Areas - Activities related to marine and coastal protected areas are framed in the Protocol for the Conservation and Administration of Coastal and Marine Protected Areas of the Southeast Pacific. For the implementation of the aforementioned protocol, in 1992 the Regional Network of Coastal and Marine Protected Areas in the Southeast Pacific was established.
2. Marine litter - The Member Countries of the Permanent Commission of the South Pacific – CPPS and the South-East Pacific Action Plan, have expressed their willingness to do their best to reduce the impact of marine litter and have reiterated the mandate for the CPPS to promote the adoption of measures for the protection of the marine environment and coastal as part of a comprehensive vision of the management and sustainable use of the Southeast Pacific and its resources.
3. Marine contamination –main areas of focus are reduction of: Land source pollution; hydrocarbons; heavy metals and Persistent Organic Pollutants (PoPs)
4. Sea Mammals - In order to promote the conservation of all marine mammal species in the region through regional cooperation, the countries of the Southeast Pacific adopted in 1991 the Action Plan for the Conservation of Marine Mammals in the Southeast Pacific . In the framework of this Action Plan, activities such as: planning meetings and identification of priorities, national consultancies, pilot projects on interaction with fisheries, training to disentangle whales, training in tools to reduce risk and population assessment have been carried out, habitat modeling exercises, creation of a georeferenced database and digital repository (SIBIMAP), among others. 
5. Mangroves - Despite the ecological, cultural, social and economic importance of mangroves, in the last decades, all the countries that have this ecosystem have experienced an accelerated degradation and loss in its surface as a result of the different anthropogenic activities and pollution. In response to the loss and deterioration of mangroves, in 2013 the Permanent Commission of the South Pacific (CPPS), through the PSE Action Plan, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) regional Quito and the non-governmental organizations Conservation International (CI) and Hivos created the open initiative on mangroves and sustainable development. As part of this initiative, the Regional Action Plan for the Conservation of Mangroves in the Southeast Pacific (PAR-Mangroves) was developed and adopted in 2015.
6. Sea Turtles - The countries of the Southeast Pacific adopted the Regional Program for the Conservation of Sea Turtles in the Southeast Pacific in 2007. Its objective is to recover sea turtle populations and their habitats in the Southeast Pacific by mitigating the main threats with participatory strategies designed with the best available socioeconomic, biological and ecological information.

Strategic Action Plan for CPPS

The Strategic Plan of the CPPS is a long-term road map for the CPPS. Its objectives are aligned in a vision that seeks to ensure that the Southeast Pacific is and will stay as a healthy and resilient maritime space for present and future generations. The objectives are interlinked and share a structure that makes them strong pillars for building the future of the Commission and how it will support member states in reaching, from an integrated perspective, the sustainable development as defined in the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. These objectives are:

1. Competitive Nations in the International Stage - Coordinate, where necessary, CPPS member states, with a view of promoting the adoption of regional maritime policies, in light of the progressive development of the Law of the Sea and International Environmental Law, for the conservation and sustainable use of living and non-living marine resources.
2. Science as a Basis for Formulating Policies - Promote and develop scientific and operational research on oceanic, biological, climatic and socioeconomic issues.
3. States and Society as Vectors of Change - Impulse mechanisms of political coordination and activities to prevent reduce and control pollution of the marine environment, ensuring adequate environmental management of natural resources.
4. An Informed and Environmentally Aware Society - Establish the necessary mechanisms to preserve and guarantee access to knowledge generated by the Permanent Commission of the South Pacific to society as a whole.

F. Partnerships

The CPPS has planned to transform its knowledge, capacity for responding to the needs of the region, and its international links in order to become a relevant partner to other institutions. Some of these partners include: Universities, Centers of Advances Studies, Ministry of Environment, Institution of Maritime Affairs, Institution or Ministry of Planning, Institution of Risk Management/Prevention, Ministry of Education, National Science and Technology Councils, Representatives of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors including small scale artisan fishers and their organizations, Global Environment Facility (GEF), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Bank (WB), Inter-American Development Bank – BID, International Center for El Niño Research – CIIFEN, Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SPREP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO).

G. Ongoing projects and programmes

1. PAR-Mangroves project – It supports the participating governments to strengthen their policies and programs for the protection, recovery and sustainable use of mangroves in the region.
2. GloFouling Partnerships (Global Environmental Facility /UN Development Programme/International Maritime Organization-IMO);- The main objective of this project is to build capacity in developing countries for implementing the IMO biofouling and other relevant guidelines for biofouling management and to catalyse overall reductions in the transboundary introduction of biofouling-mediated invasive aquatic species with additional benefits in the reduction of GHG emissions from global shipping.
3. STRONG High Seas project a five-year project that aims to strengthen the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ)
4. South-East Pacific Data and Information Network to support ICM (IOC-UNESCO/Flanders);
5. Coordinated Program for Research, Surveillance and Control of Marine Pollution in the Southeast Pacific (CONPACSE).
6. Regional Program for the Comprehensive Management of Marine Litter in the Southeast Pacific.
7. Regional Program for the Conservation of Sea Turtles in the Southeast Pacific.
8. Regional Program for the Conservation of Marine Mammals in the Southeast Pacific.
9. Regional Network of Coastal and Marine Protected Areas in the Southeast Pacific.
10. Regional Action Plan for the Conservation of Sharks, Rays and Chimeras in the Southeast Pacific.

H. Key achievements

1. The region signed a historic agreement with the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SPREP), to cooperate in the protection of a more extensive area of the Pacific.
2. Regional action plans have been developed on marine litter, marine mammals, sea turtles, mangroves and marine and coastal protected areas.
3. Pilot projects have been conducted on Integrated Coastal Management, municipal marine litter action plans and microplastics in fish resources.
4. Data management has improved with two online geoportals with information on marine biodiversity, ICM indicators and environmental information: https://atlasspincam.net, and https://sibimap.net. The CPPS also became an Ocean Biogeographic Information System Node at the beginning of 2017.

I. Interesting facts about the South-East Pacific region

1. The Humboldt Current System (HCS) sustains one of the most productive Large Marine Ecosystems (LME) in the world, accounting for approximately 18-20% of world fisheries and hosting globally important biodiversity. This system has been nominated as one of the 200 priority Ecoregions for Global Conservation by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).
2. The cold, nutrient-rich Humboldt Current-has the largest upwelling system in the world supporting one of the world's most productive fishing grounds-and that of the Eastern Equatorial Pacific.
3. Five of the seven existing sea turtle species are distributed in the region.

Contact us:

Permanent Commission of the South Pacific
Visit us at our offices, at Av. Francisco de Orellana and Miguel H. Alcívar, Las Cámaras Business Center, Tower B, Offices 1, 2 and 3
We are ready to answer your questions, suggestions and opinions. Please direct them to communications@cpps-int.org

Website: http://www.cpps-int.org/index.php