SEABED ASSEMBLY TAKES UP REPORT ON AUTHORITY’S WORK

SEABED ASSEMBLY TAKES UP REPORT ON AUTHORITY’S WORK

(Reissued as received.)

KINGSTON, 9 August (International Seabed Authority) -- The Assembly of the International Seabed Authority began this morning its annual review of the work of the Authority and prospects for its future activities.

Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan touched off the debate by introducing his annual report to the membership (ISBA/8/A/5 and Add.1).  He stressed in particular the importance of promoting collaboration in marine scientific research relating to activities in the international seabed area.

Representatives of 12 countries offered their views in this debate, which is due to resume at the Assembly’s next meeting, on Tuesday morning, 13 August.

Without objection, the Assembly approved a slate of four vice-presidents for the current session, consisting of Argentina, Australia, China and Slovakia.  Each was nominated on behalf of its regional group.  The President, Martin Belinga-Eboutou (Cameroon), was elected on 5 August when the session opened.

The Assembly was informed of plans to mark the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, opened for signature at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 10 December 1982.  The occasion will be commemorated at United Nations Headquarters, New York, on 9 and 10 December this year, in accordance with a decision taken by the General Assembly last November (resolution 56/12). 

On 9 December, the Assembly President and Secretary-General Kofi Annan are to address a commemorative meeting at which Tommy Koh (Singapore), the final President of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, will also speak, along with the heads of bodies established under the Convention that the Conference completed 20 years ago.  In addition, two seminars are to be held on issues related to the future of the Convention.  On 10 December, the General Assembly is to take up its regular agenda item on oceans and the law of the sea.

Also this morning, the Assembly paid tribute to the memory of Elisabeth Mann Borgese, founder and honorary chair of the International Ocean Institute, and long-time activist for environmental causes, who died on 7 February.  President Belinga-Oboutou described her as “a visionary who was in many ways ahead of her time”, many of whose ideas on the development and sharing of ocean resources were only now coming to be accepted by the international community.

The President announced that the election of members to the Council of the Authority, which had been scheduled for Monday, 12 August, would be postponed until the following day, to enable delegations to complete consultations.

Report of the Secretary-General

Secretary-General Nandan, introducing his annual report on the work of the Authority, noted that the institutional establishment of the Authority had now been completed.  Its main substantive achievement so far had been the adoption in 2000 of regulations on exploration for polymetallic nodules and the signature in 2001 of exploration contracts with several entities.

Regarding unsettled questions involving the Authority’s relations with Jamaica as host country of its headquarters, he said considerable progress had recently been made on the allocation of maintenance costs for the office space in Kingston occupied by the secretariat.  During the past 24 hours, both sides had agreed on the need to complete an agreement as soon as possible.

The secretariat continued to have difficulty in recruiting and retaining specialized staff, handicapping its work as it moved on to more technical matters, he said.

Regarding finances, he said the Authority’s financial situation had been stabilized, as shown by the leveling off of the budget for the next biennium.  Unfortunately, however, a large number of countries, totalling 65, were still in arrears in their budgetary contributions, of which 46 were two years behind.  Another $1.2 million was payable by four former provisional members of the Authority.

Despite optimistic predictions in the 1970s and 1980s, he continued, many factors continued to impede the beginning of seabed mineral exploitation, including the hostile environment of the open ocean, technological constraints, and economic conditions that made seabed mining uncompetitive with land-based production.  Further, current knowledge was inadequate to permit conclusive risk assessment of possible environmental impacts.  In this situation, the Authority would focus on four areas:  supervising the exploration contracts, encouragement of marine scientific research, information gathering and the creation of regulatory frameworks for other seabed minerals.

He noted that all seven seabed contractors had submitted to the Authority this year their first reports on their exploration activities.  The Legal and Technical Commission, which had examined these reports this week, would suggest improvements in the reporting when it submitted it own report to the Council next week.

Speaking of efforts to promote marine scientific research relating to the seabed, he said the Authority was seeking the help of some of the world’s foremost experts to participate in workshops.  Individually, seabed contractors could not readily acquire the knowledge that would justify their risk-taking.  The most cost-effective method would be for everyone to share in the effort.  An example was the priority list of research initiatives that had been drawn up by the workshop that had met in Kingston last week.  Such work would be the main focus of future workshops.  Also essential was a standardization of data gathering that would facilitate comparison between the results of different researchers and assist the Authority in its regulatory activities.  Meanwhile, the Authority had made progress in the development of a central database available to all member States. 

Regarding the regulation of exploration for polymetallic massive sulphides and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, he noted that the Legal and Technical Commission had begun to consider the concepts involved, though it had had insufficient time for the topic during the week-long session that was ending today.  The Commission needed more time to consider the matter in depth, and he hoped the Assembly would look into ways of providing it with additional time.

Discussion on Report

The main areas covered in today’s debate on the report of the Secretary-General included the pattern of future sessions of the Assembly and the Authority’s future role in collecting and disseminating scientific information relating to the seabed.  Delegations also welcomed the positive developments in negotiations between the secretariat and Jamaica for a supplementary agreement concerning financial arrangements for the headquarters of the Authority.

A number of delegations supported the idea, broached in the Secretary-General’s report, of convening the Assembly every two years instead of annually.  Chile suggested that this scheme would enable members to reallocate funds normally used to attend annual meetings, and added that the priority was to collect information to enable bodies of the Authority to proceed with the next steps in the legislative process. The United Kingdom agreed that there was scope for rationalizing the meetings programme along the lines suggested by the Secretary-General.  Fiji said it would support such a move if it would enhance the work of the Authority.

Jamaica, while recognizing that the Legal and Technical Commission needed more time for its work on sulphides and crusts, said this should not be done at the expense of other bodies of the Authority.

Many delegations opposed biennial sessions on the ground that the work of the Authority was too critical at this time.  Iraq felt that less frequent meetings would weaken the Assembly’s ability to supervise the work of the Authority.  Senegal saw no benefit to having the Council meet annually if the Assembly were to meet only every two years.  Malta could not accept the proposal because the protracted time lapse could lead to problems in information flow between meetings, especially as the composition of delegations changed over time.  Portugal cautioned against any limitation on the Assembly members’ right to participate in the work of the Authority.

       Regarding the headquarters agreement, Jamaica endorsed the Secretary General’s statement that significant progress had been made and confirmed the Government’s commitment to ensure completion of the matter.

On another matter, the Republic of Korea expressed concern that the secretariat’s information relating to preparatory expenditures by countries on activities in the deep seabed dated back to 1995.  It suggested that the secretariat obtain updated figures and report to the Assembly at its next session, with suggestions for ways of obtaining current figures every three or four years.

Debate also focused on the sections of the Secretary-General’s report dealing with substantive work of the Authority and future activities.  On marine scientific research in the deep seabed, Chile said the analysis of scientific information was a prerequisite to legislation on potential mineral resources in

the area.  China believed that the Authority should be mandated to make marine scientific research a permanent feature of its work.  Jamaica thought it essential for the Authority to constantly monitor and review trends, market conditions and other developments in world metal markets, and to document those findings in an annual report.

Iraq stated that its inability to pay its contribution to the Authority was due to the sanctions imposed by the United Nations on its petroleum exports and the action by the United Kingdom and the United States two years ago to block payments arrangements.

Fiji offered to host the workshop that the Authority plans to convene next year on the development of a geological and exploration model of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone in the Pacific, the main region of polymetallic nodules.

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