Oceans and Law of the Sea


SEA/2194
The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf held its sixtieth session at United Nations Headquarters from 22 January to 8 March 2024. The plenary parts of the session were held from 29 January to 2 February and from 26 February to 1 March. The remainder of the session was devoted to the technical examination of submissions at the premises of the Division, including geographic information systems laboratories and other technical facilities.
SEA/2193

On 22 January, the Permanent Representative of Palau handed over to the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel Palau’s instrument of ratification of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction at United Nations Headquarters. This is the first instrument of ratification for the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement that has been deposited.

SEA/2192

NEW YORK, 22 January (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) — The Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf will hold its sixtieth session from 22 January to 8 March at United Nations Headquarters in New York. During the session, plenary meetings will be held from 29 January to 2 February and from 26 February to 1 March. The remainder of the session will be devoted to the technical examination of submissions by subcommissions in the Division premises, including geographic information systems laboratories and other technical facilities.

SEA/2191

NEW YORK, 18 January 2024 (Office of Legal Affairs) — On 16 January 2024, principals of organizations participating in UN-Oceans endorsed a statement of commitments to strengthen and promote coordination and coherence of United Nations system activities in relation to the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).

SEA/2190

Following the announcement made on behalf of the Chairman of the Nippon Foundation, Yohei Sasakawa, at the UN Ocean Conference in July 2022, the United Nations-Nippon Foundation (UNNF) capacity-building programmes implemented by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (the Division) are set to expand. Commencing in August 2024, a new three-month Ocean Governance Fellowship for Small Island Developing States will be launched to complement the existing UNNF Fellowship and Strategic Needs Fellowship.