Expansion of World-Wide Navigational Warning System into Arctic waters marked by IMO, WMO and IHO chiefs

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On the first day of the 15th session of the IMO Sub-Committee on Radiocommunications, Search and Rescue, a ceremony took place to celebrate the expansion of the World-Wide Navigational Warning System (WWNWS) into Arctic waters.  It was attended by the Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Mr. Michel Jarraud, the President of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), Admiral Alexandros Maratos, and IMO Secretary-General, Mr. Efthimios E. Mitropoulos.

The expansion means that ships operating in the harsh Arctic environment can automatically receive vital information about navigational and meteorological hazards and other urgent information to shipping, via five new navigational areas (NAVAREAs) and meteorological areas (METAREAs), as delineated by IMO and WMO respectively.

Following their establishment, in June 2010, the five Arctic NAVAREAs/METAREAs are currently in an “Initial Operational Capability” phase with a transition to “Full Operational Capability” expected in the coming June.

IMO Secretary-General Mitropoulos heralded the expansion of WWNWS into Arctic waters as a very significant development, needed to address the increased risks to ships from a combination of expanding business activity in the inhospitable Arctic region and less predictable, more extreme, weather conditions. “The potential for accidents and for causing environmental harm through operational mishaps in the Arctic is rising, while the effectiveness of search and rescue services and clean-up resources is inevitably stretched to the limit.” he said.

“The opening up of the Arctic will be a double-edged sword. Depending on your perspective, it represents either a world of new business opportunities or, on the other hand, an unwelcome extension of the human footprint into areas still, at the moment, predominantly pristine. But I am confident that, balancing the two extremes and with measures such as those we inaugurate today, the pioneering venture in the new frontiers will be met with universal approval.  Let us, therefore, work together to create the conditions that will allow the opportunities the Arctic presents to flourish in a framework of utter safety and environmental protection,” Mr. Mitropoulos said.

“Sea ice is projected to increasingly shrink under all scenarios and for some projections the Arctic late-summer sea ice would vanish almost entirely by the middle of the century, opening unprecedented challenges to maritime safety which were unpredictable just one generation ago,” Mr. Jarraud said.

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