DELEGATES MEET TO DISCUSS BETTER IMPLEMENTATION OF UN OCEAN TREATY

21 June - Delegates gathered at United Nations Headquarters in New York today to explore ways of improving the implementation of a global treaty aimed at protecting oceans and the resources they hold from a range of threats, including pollution, climate change, illegal fishing and crimes.

Experts attending the five-day meeting of the UN Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea will assess the needs for national and regional capacity-building as they seek to come up with the appropriate knowledge to help States protect Oceans in accordance with the provisions of the UN Law of the Sea Convention.

In his report to the General Assembly on oceans and the law of the sea, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon points out that because seas are interconnected, assistance intended to strengthen capacities to manage ocean-related activities can ultimately benefit all States.

He notes that effective protection of oceans continued to be hampered by capacity limitations, especially in developing countries.

“These limitations and challenges may constrain the potential for States, in particular developing countries, especially the least developed among them and the small island developing States, to benefit from oceans and seas and their resources pursuant to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” the Secretary-General said in his report.