New Zealand and the convention

New Zealand’s coastal and marine resources are at risk from land-based sources of marine pollution, ocean dumping and oil spills.

Several international obligations regulate activities that have the potential to cause these environmental effects.

These include the:

  • 1973 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes
  • 1971 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Dumping Convention).

The London Dumping Convention regulates the dumping at sea of wastes and other matter and is primarily implemented through the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Act 2012 and Maritime Transport Act 1994.

This convention was ratified on 30 April 1975.