The objective of the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) is to coordinate the Member States efforts towards protection of the water quality in ROPME Sea Area and protect the environment systems as well as marine living and to abate the pollution caused by the development activities of the Member States. In addition, ROPME requested the Member States to exert their maximum efforts to protect the marine environment and prevent the reasons of pollution.

Therefore, ROPME is playing an essential role to unify the exerted efforts of the Member States towards protection of the marine environment and to follow up the procedures of each Member States.

MEMAC Objectives

In conformity with the provisions of the Protocol, the Marine Emergency Mutual Aid Centre (MEMAC) was established in Bahrain and started functioning in March 1983. The objectives of MEMAC are contained in Article III of the Protocol, which read as follows:

1. to strengthen the capacities of the Contracting States and to facilitate cooperation among them in order to combat pollution by oil and other harmful substances in cases of marine emergencies;

2. to assist Contracting States, which so request in the development of their own national capabilities to combat pollution by oil and other harmful substances and to co-ordinate and facilitate information exchange, technological co-operation and training.

3. A later objective, namely the possibility of initiating operations to combat pollution by oil and other harmful substances at the Regional level. This will be subject to approval by the Council after evaluating the results of previous objectives and in the light of financial resources which could be made available for this purpose.

Objectives of the Kuwait Action Plan

The Action Plan, also known as the Kuwait Action Plan, is intended to meet the environmental needs and enhance the environmental capabilities of ROPME Member States (Bahrain, I.R.Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) and is aimed primarily towards implementation by way of coordinated national and regional programmes. The Action Plan consists of four main components, i.e. Environmental Assessment, Environmental Management, Legal Component, and Institutional and Financial Arrangements. Since protection of the marine environment is considered as the first priority with a view to promotion of human health and well-being as the ultimate goal, the Kuwait Action Plan aims to achieve, inter-alia, the following:

1.  assessment of the state of the environment including socio-economic development activities related to environmental quality and of the needs of the Region in order to assist Governments to cope properly with environmental problems, particularly those concerning the marine environment;
2.  development of guidelines for the management of those activities which have an impact on environmental quality or on the protection and use of renewable marine resources on a sustainable basis;
3. development of legal instruments providing the legal basis for cooperative efforts to protect and develop the Region on a sustainable basis;
4. supporting measures including national and regional institutional mechanisms and structure needed for the successful implementation of the Action Plan.

In addition to Article III (General Obligations), several Articles of the Convention imposed on the Contracting States the responsibilities to take all measures at national and regional levels to protect the marine environment from various sources of pollution, such as pollution from ships, pollution caused by dumping from ships and aircrafts, pollution from land-based sources, pollution resulting from exploration and exploitation of the bed of the territorial sea and its subsoil and the continental shelf, pollution from other human activities, co-operation in dealing with pollution Emergencies (Articles IV to IX).