New Permanent Observer for International Seabed Authority Presents Letter of Appointment

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

The new Permanent Observer for the International Seabed Authority to the United Nations, Michael W. Lodge, presented his letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Prior to his latest appointment, Mr. Lodge was the Authority’s Secretary-General, a position to which he was elected in July 2016, having previously served as Deputy to the Secretary-General and Legal Counsel to the Jamaica-based body.

Earlier, he was Counsellor to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Round Table on Sustainable Development from 2004 to 2007.  He served as Legal Counsel to the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency from 1991 to 1995.

With 28 years of experience as a public international lawyer, Mr. Lodge has acted as a consultant on fisheries, environmental and international law in Africa, Asia, Europe and the South Pacific.  He helped to create and implement the first international regulatory agreement for seabed mining, and served as a lead negotiator for South Pacific island States for the 1995 United Nations Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks.

A citizen of the United Kingdom, he holds a Master of Science in marine policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Law from the University of East Anglia.