Experts working to negotiate a new treaty on biodiversity in ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction today deliberated ways to govern marine genetic resources — namely, materials of real or potential value — as well as the specific types of resources to be regulated and the sharing of benefits arising from them.
Speakers at the ongoing negotiations for a new treaty on biodiversity in ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction agreed today that a State party to the instrument — rather than the proponent of a planned activity — should determine the need to conduct environmental impact assessments.
Negotiations on a new treaty on biodiversity in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction centred today on whether areas requiring protection through area-based management tools - including marine protected areas – should be determined on the basis of “precautionary principle” or “precautionary approach”.
The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its fiftieth session at United Nations Headquarters from 1 July to 16 August 2019. The first plenary part of the session was held from 29 July to 2 August and the second one from 13 to 16 August. The remaining five weeks were devoted to the technical examination of submissions at the geographic information systems laboratories and other technical facilities of the Division.
Delegates working to draft a new treaty on biodiversity in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction today weighed issues related to building capacity and transferring marine technology, with speakers outlining a range of views on how — and on what basis — those types of support should be provided to States.
The process of drafting the first-ever treaty addressing marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction entered a new phase today as Member States began text-based deliberations, with a view to reaching an agreement by the first half of 2020.
The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will hold its fiftieth session from 1 July to 16 August.
NEW YORK, 20 June (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — The twenty-ninth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was held at Headquarters from 17 to 19 June 2019. For background information, see Press Release SEA/2104.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the twenty-fifth anniversary of its entry into force, in New York today:
NEW YORK, 13 June (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — The twenty-ninth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will be held at United Nations Headquarters from 17 to 19 June.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s message for World Oceans Day, observed on 8 June:
Delegates elaborating the terms of a new high seas treaty under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea hailed expanding convergence on many of that instrument’s substantive elements, as the Intergovernmental Conference tasked with drafting a legally-binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity concluded its second session today.
The Intergovernmental Conference tasked with drafting a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity continued its work on cross-cutting issues today, with delegates outlining whether the new treaty should establish a clearing house mechanism, and if so, for what purpose.
Delegates today grappled with the issue of funding sources for capacity‑building and the transfer of marine technology — as well as the most suitable monitoring and review processes in that arena — along with the matter of establishing subsidiary bodies, as the Intergovernmental Conference, tasked with drafting a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity, continued its work.
The Intergovernmental Conference drafting the first‑ever legally binding instrument on marine biodiversity continued negotiations today, with delegates concluding discussions on the obligation to conduct environmental impact assessments of activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction and then focusing on how the new treaty should handle capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology among States parties.
The Intergovernmental Conference to draft a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity began its second week today, with delegates considering how that treaty should reflect the content of environmental impact assessment reports.
Delegates negotiating the terms of a new treaty governing the planet’s high seas today considered how that instrument will interact with existing bodies and frameworks, as the Intergovernmental Conference to draft a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity concluded its first week.
Discussions on a new high seas treaty centred today on which stakeholders — from civil society and indigenous peoples to coastal States and the private sector — should be invited to decide how to protect the biological diversity of the world’s oceans.
Delegates underlined a need to clarify how a new high seas treaty will interact with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea today as the Intergovernmental Conference to draft a legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity entered its third day.
With the Intergovernmental Conference to draft a new maritime diversity treaty under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea continuing its second substantive session today, delegates debated how best to share the benefits of marine genetic resources and how to monitor their use in areas beyond national jurisdictions.
