INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY TO BEGIN WORK NEXT YEAR

ON POLYMETALLIC SULPHIDES AND COBALT-RICH CRUSTS

      KINGSTON, 12 July -- The International Seabed Authority, looking for the first time at two recently discovered sources of valuable minerals in the deep oceans, has set a course for the first leg of its future work on the topic -– the main issue at its seventh session, held in Kingston from 2 to 13 July.

Steering between the position of countries that sought quick action to regulate exploration for these resources and those stressing the need for more information, the Council of the Authority decided to continue consideration next year of “conceptual issues” involved in elaborating regulations, while asking for further study by its secretariat and its Legal and Technical Commission.

The resources concerned are hydrothermal polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, rich sources of such minerals as copper, iron, zinc, silver and gold, as well as cobalt.  The sulphides are found around volcanic hot springs, especially in the western Pacific Ocean, while the crusts occur on oceanic ridges and elsewhere at several locations around the world.

The Authority turned to this topic after having completed last July a set of regulations on exploring for polymetallic nodules, the first major mineral resource discovered on seabed areas beyond national jurisdiction.  Under the

1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Authority has the responsibility of controlling all resource-related activity, including exploration and exploitation, in this international area.

The Council was informed that six of the seven “pioneer investors” had signed contracts this year with the Authority governing their exploration for polymetallic nodules in designated areas, with the seventh expected to sign shortly.

During the session, the Council’s Legal and Technical Commission approved recommendations to guide contractors on the kinds of environmental data they should gather when checking on the environmental consequences of their exploration activities.  The Council deferred consideration of these recommendations until next year.

            As usual, both of the Authority’s principal organs, the 135-member Assembly and the 36-member Council, met during the annual session, which ended one day early.  All decisions during the session were taken by consensus.     The two bodies also dealt with several routine matters, including elections to the Legal and Technical Commission and the Finance Committee, and approval of Staff Regulations.

The Assembly fixed the dates of the next session at 5 to 16 August

2002, also at the Kingston headquarters of the Authority.  The Authority plans to hold a workshop next year on prospects for international cooperation and collaboration in marine scientific research on the deep oceans.

Polymetallic Sulphides and Cobalt-Rich Crusts

      The Council’s decision on the two new resources came on 11 July in the form of a compromise text containing three elements:

-- The Council decided to continue next year its consideration of “issues relating to the elaboration of regulations for prospecting and exploration for polymetallic sulphides and cobalt-rich crusts” in the international seabed area.  The aim would be “to give the members of the Council the opportunity to consider further the important conceptual issues involved in order to enable it to take necessary decisions”.

-- The secretariat was asked to collect and assemble information to facilitate further Council discussion on important considerations raised in a paper the secretariat had presented at this year’s session.

-- The Legal and Technical Commission was instructed to “commence consideration of the issues involved in the elaboration of such regulations”.

This decision was based on a proposal by the Russian Federation, with changes suggested by Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan in response to delegations’ concerns.  The topic is before the Council as a result of a Russian request, made in 1998, that the Authority adopt regulations on the new resources.

The debate leading up to this decision revolved around the issue of how quickly the Authority should move to draft regulations.  Several countries, including some large industrialized States, argued that more time and study were needed, given the fact that little was known about the nature and occurrence of these resources and that their exploitation was nowhere in sight.  Another group of States, including many developing countries, favoured a prompt start on the regulations, to protect the interests of humanity as a whole in deep seabed resources and to safeguard the marine environment; they also noted that prospecting for polymetallic sulphides had already begun in at least one area within national jurisdiction, in the Bismarck Sea off Papua New Guinea.

The paper that the secretariat submitted to the Council highlights differences between the new resources and polymetallic nodules, which would have to be reflected in any new regulations.  For example, individual deposits are small and probably incapable of sustaining an economically viable mining operation.  Moreover, varying deposit thicknesses make it difficult to assess commercial value without costly exploration.  Thus, besides assigning smaller areas to seabed contractors, any new scheme might have to allow for the Authority

to obtain a minimum equity participation in their operations as an alternative to getting back part of the initially assigned area.

Polymetallic Nodules

The Council, on 3 July, took note of a report by the Secretary-General (ISBA/7/C/4) stating that the first contracts between the Authority and six of the seven pioneer investors, spelling out their obligations and rights concerning exploration for polymetallic nodules, had been signed earlier this year.  Signatures were recorded in March with Yuzhmorgeologiya (sponsored by the Russian Federation), the Republic of Korea and the Interoceanmetal Joint Organization (IOM), a body sponsored by Bulgaria, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Russian Federation and Slovakia; in May with the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Company, and in June with the Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer / Association française pour l'étude et la recherche des nodules (IFREMER/AFERNOD) and the Deep Ocean Resources Development Company, Ltd. (Japan).  India told the Assembly on 10 July that it expected to sign its contract soon.

The content of the contracts is governed by the Regulations on Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Nodules in the international seabed area, adopted by the Authority last July.

      Copies of the contracts, and associated plans of work for 2001-05, were shown to Council members at an open meeting on 5 July and were also examined by members of the Legal and Technical Commission, but the Authority has not published them.

The Assembly, on 10 July, deferred action on an IOM request for observer status with the Assembly, pending the receipt of additional information from that organization.

During the first week of the Authority’s session, its Legal and Technical Commission approved guidelines for contractors to follow in assessing any environmental impacts arising from nodule exploration.  The Authority’s regulations require contractors to gather two types of data:  on natural conditions before exploration begins (baseline data) and on the environmental effects of their exploration work.  The Commission’s latest contribution was a set of recommendations specifying exactly what features of the seabed and surrounding ocean should be measured to comply with these obligations.

Baseline data measurements are to cover physical and chemical oceanography, sediment properties and biological communities.  Environmental impact assessment is required only for certain activities, such as dredging for samples and the testing of nodule collection devices.  A commentary annexed to the recommendations explains that the main impacts are expected on the seafloor, where the collector will create a plume of sediment as it moves about, and will compress and break up the hard sediment layer underlying the bottom ooze.

The nodule exploration regulations authorize the Commission to issue supplementary technical recommendations, on which it has been working since 1999.  It made use of information provided at two expert workshops convened by the Authority on the topic, one of them in the week before this year’s session of the Authority.  The recommendations were reported to the Council by Commission Chairman Inge Zaamwani (Namibia) on 6 July.  They will serve as guidelines rather than legal requirements for contractors.

The Council decided on 12 July to defer consideration of the recommendations until next year.  The deferral was proposed by the Russian Federation, which requested more time to examine the text.     

Institutional Matters

The Assembly completed the institutional setup of the Authority on 10 July when it adopted Staff Regulations to govern the rights, duties and obligations of persons in its employ and the principles of its personnel policy.  The regulations have been provisionally in force since last July, when the Council adopted them (document ISBA/6/C/10).  They are based on the Staff Regulations of the United Nations, with additions barring staff members from having a financial interest in seabed activities and from disclosing confidential information coming to their knowledge by reason of their activities.

Also on 10 July, the Assembly appointed KPMG Peat Marwick to audit the Authority’s accounts for a further year.

      Elections and Officers

      The Council, on 5 July, elected the new membership of the Legal and Technical Commission, after deciding to accept all 24 candidates nominated by member States and enlarging the Commission to accommodate them.  The Commission had been a 23-member body since 1999, up from its original membership of

15 following the first election in 1996.

The new slate of members, for a term from 1 January 2001 through

2006, consists of the following (an asterisk denotes a re-elected member):

Ferry Adamhar (Indonesia), Sami Ahmad Addam (Lebanon), Shahid Amjad (Pakistan), *Frida María Armas Pfirter (Argentina), *Helmut Beiersdorf (Germany), *Samuel Sona Betah (Cameroon), *Arne Bjørlykke (Norway), Galo Carrera Hurtado (Mexico), *Walter De Sá Leitão (Brazil), Baïdy Diène (Senegal), Miguel Dos Santos Alberto Chissano (Mozambique), *Ivan F. Glumov (Russian Federation), *Mohammed M. Gomaa (Egypt), Albert J. Hoffmann (South Africa), *Yuki Kajitani (Japan), *Jung-Keuk Kang (Republic of Korea), *Jean-Pierre Lenoble (France), *Li Yuwei (China), Lindsay M. Parson (United Kingdom), M. Ravindran (India), *Giovanni Rosa (Italy), *Alfred T. Simpson (Fiji), Rodrigo Miguel Urquiza Caroca (Chile) and *Inge K. Zaamwani (Namibia).

Members leaving the Commission at the end of their current terms are:  Syamal Kanti Das (India), Robert Guehi (Côte d’Ivoire), Ryszard Kotlinski

(Poland), Charles L. Morgan (United States), Pierre A. Ndong (Gabon), Luis Giotto Preval Paez (Cuba), Olexander A. Schiptsov (Ukraine), George P. Stewart (Bahamas) and Boris Winterhalter (Finland).

Also with regard to the Commission, the Council decided on 5 July to set the start of the term at 1 January following the election, rather than the day of the election as provided in the Council’s rules of procedure; asked the Secretary-General to report next year with a study of possible financial aid to facilitate the participation of members from developing countries; recalled a previous decision that any members who missed consecutive sessions would be asked whether they intended to keep their seats; and asked States to submit candidates’ names and biographies at least two months before the session that would elect them.

      The Assembly, on 10 July, elected the new membership of the Finance Committee, approving all 15 candidates nominated by member States.  The new membership will be as follows (an asterisk denotes a re-elected member):

*Domenico Da Empoli (Italy), *Peter Döllekes (Germany), *Hasjim Djalal (Indonesia), Ivo Dreiseitl (Czech Republic), Aung Htoo (Myanmar), Boris G. Idrisov (Russian Federation), *Tadanori Inomata (Japan), Joseph Samih Matta (Lebanon), *Juliet Kalema Semanbo (Uganda), *Jean-Pierre Levy (France), Liu Jian (China), Paul McKell (United Kingdom), *Coy Roache (Jamaica), *Narinder Singh (India) and Florentina Adenike Ukonga (Nigeria).

Members leaving the Committee at the end of their current term are:

Ernesto Belo Rosa (Uruguay), Walid Doudech (Tunisia), Maria Dragun-Gertner (Poland), Albert Hoffmann (South Africa), Lou Hong (China), Serguey P. Ivanov (Russian Federation) and Michael Wood (United Kingdom).

The Finance Committee considers the Authority’s two-year budgets and other financial matters.  As required, its membership includes persons from the five largest budgetary contributors.

      The President of the Assembly for this year, elected on 2 July, is Peter Dickson Donigi (Papua Nerw Guinea) (biography in press release SB/7/4).  The Council President, elected on 3 July, is Tadeusz Bachleda-Curuś (Poland) (biography in press release SB/7/6).  Hasjim Djalal (Indonesia) served as Acting President of the Council during the first week.

Membership and Attendance

Of the Authority’s 135 members, 59 were recorded as attending the session.  The membership of the Authority consists of all parties to the Law of the Sea Convention.  The members are listed below, with an asterisk (*) marking those participating in the session.

Algeria, *Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, *Argentina, *Australia, Austria, *Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, *Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia,

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, *Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, *Cameroon, Cape Verde, *Chile, *China, Comoros, Cook Islands, *Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, *Cyprus, *Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, *Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, *European Community, *Fiji, *Finland, *France, *Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, *Germany, *Ghana, *Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, *Haiti, *Honduras, Iceland, *India, *Indonesia, *Iraq, Ireland, *Italy, *Jamaica, *Japan, Jordan, Kenya, *Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, *Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, *Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, *Mozambique, *Myanmar. 

Also *Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, *Netherlands, *New Zealand, Nicaragua, *Nigeria, *Norway, Oman, *Pakistan, Palau, *Panama, *Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, *Poland, *Portugal, *Republic of Korea, Romania, *Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, *Saudi Arabia, *Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, *Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, *South Africa, *Spain, Sri Lanka, *Sudan, Suriname, *Sweden, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, *Tonga, *Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, *United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, *Yemen, *Yugoslavia, *Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Eight non-member States recorded their presence as observers:  Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Holy See, Libya, Peru, United States and Venezuela.  Observers may take part in all deliberations, without the right to vote.

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