UN WORKSHOP TO CONSIDER NEW GLOBAL MECHANISM TO ASSESS STATE OF WORLD’S OCEANS, 7 - 11 JUNE

UN WORKSHOP TO CONSIDER NEW GLOBAL MECHANISM TO ASSESS

STATE OF WORLD’S OCEANS, 7 - 11 JUNE

NEW YORK, 4 June (DPI) –- More than 200 delegates from national governments and international organizations are expected to attend a week-long meeting at the United Nations to consider details of a global mechanism which will regularly assess the state of the world’s oceans.

More than 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their primary source of food.  In 20 years, this number could double to 7 billion.  At the same time, the state of the world’s oceans and seas is deteriorating.  Various human activities are harmful to coastal and ocean resources and are contributing to the destruction of important undersea habitats.

Unlike other environmental problems, such as air pollution and land degradation, which have visual signs to reflect the severity and scale of the problem, oceans provide generally no evident indicators to alert policy makers to the need to conserve, protect and use marine resources in a sustainable way.

The Global Marine Assessment (GMA) International Workshop will be held in conjunction with the Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea.  The GMA aims to provide a reliable scientific basis for policy makers to make necessary decisions and actions to conserve the marine environment.  It will provide advice, guidance and assistance on actions required to mitigate environmental impacts and changes.

The aim of the workshop is to review a draft document which sets out, among other things, the scope, framework and outline of the GMA.  This document will then be presented for adoption at an intergovernmental meeting in Iceland in October this year, where it is expected that the formal establishment of the GMA will take place.

The establishment of a GMA mechanism is in response to a recommendation by governments at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg in 2002, to “establish by 2004 a regular process under the United Nations for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment” and later endorsed by General Assembly resolution 57/141.

For more information and to set up interviews with participants of the GMA International Workshop,contact Renata Sivacolundhu, UN Department of Public Information, tel: (212) 963-2932, e-mail: mediainfo@un.org

For background information on the GMA, including the Secretary-General’s Report from October 2003 on proposed modalities for the GMA, see http://www.un.org/Depts/los/global_reporting/global_reporting.htm

The theme for World Environment Day, 5 June 2004, is “Wanted! Seas and Oceans: Dead or Alive?”  For more information, including key facts about the state of the world’s seas and oceans, visit www.unep.org

* *** *