Protecting the North-East Atlantic: enhancing synergies by institutional interplay

This article examines the interplay between three different international institutions on marine pollution in the North Sea and the wider North-East Atlantic: the International North Sea Conferences (INSC), the OSPAR-Convention and preceding conventions as well as the European Union (EU). It argues that interplay between these institutions have proved synergetic in two ways. First, the INSC-process has speeded up decision-making within OSPAR and the EU by means of leadership, change in membership and institutional arrangements. Second, OSPAR and the EU have subsequently facilitated domestic implementation of the North Sea Conference Declarations by means of higher authoritativeness and enforcement competence. These three institutions have fulfilled different functions all of which are needed to make international environmental cooperation effective.