OSPAR is the mechanism by which 15 Governments & the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic.

OSPAR started in 1972 with the Oslo Convention against dumping and was broadened to cover land-based sources of marine pollution and the offshore industry by the Paris Convention of 1974. These two conventions were unified, up-dated and extended by the 1992 OSPAR Convention. The new annex on biodiversity and ecosystems was adopted in 1998 to cover non-polluting human activities that can adversely affect the sea.

The fifteen Governments are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

OSPAR is so named because of the original Oslo and Paris Conventions ("OS" for Oslo and "PAR" for Paris).

OSPAR Data & Information Management System (ODIMS) is a fully featured platform for accessing OSPAR's geospatial maps, data and metadata.

61 Maps and 254 layers regarding:

- Cables and pipelines

- Comprehensive atmospheric monitoring programme

- Discharges of radionuclides from the non-nuclear sectors

- Discharges, spills and emissions from offshore oil and gas installations

- Dumping and placement of wastes or other matter at sea

- Environmental monitoring of radioactive substances

- Fishing for litter

- Vulnerable marine ecosystems

- etc.