United Nations Open-Ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and Law of the Sea

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Co-Chairs and the Department of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea Secretariat for their work in preparation for this meeting. With the meeting moved up a month, the Secretariat rose to the challenge by producing a very useful draft annual report on a wide range of activities affecting oceans and the law of the sea.

Although the United States is not yet a Party to the Law of the Sea Convention, we have long accepted the Convention’s provisions on traditional uses of the oceans as reflective of existing maritime law and practice. As Ambassador Siv announced to the General Assembly last November, the Administration of President George W. Bush supports accession of the United States to the Convention, and we intend to work with the U.S. Senate to move forward on becoming a party.

We were pleased the General Assembly recognized that this year’s Informal Consultative Process is occurring within the context of preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) this summer in Johannesburg. The areas of focus for this consultative session - protection and preservation of the marine environment, and capacity-building, regional cooperation and coordination, and integrated ocean management - are obviously quite relevant to the work that will be done both before and after the Rio + 10 summit. They are also areas where there are urgent needs to improve coordination or cooperation at the intergovernmental and interagency level.

The international community has made considerable progress on marine environmental protection and other oceans issues since the meeting in Rio de Janeiro. Agenda 21, Chapter 17, set the stage for a series of ground-breaking developments on oceans and fisheries issues. The 1996 entry into force of the Convention on the Law of the Sea ensures a widely agreed jurisdictional regime for the oceans, and a framework for negotiation and implementation of agreements affecting the marine environment. The 1995 Global Program of Action on the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities addresses sources of pollution, the significance of which we are only now beginning to appreciate. The International Coral Reef Initiative provides an effective voluntary model for addressing degradation of coral reefs. The Cartagena Convention protocols, the Arctic Council, and the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program are models of regional cooperation to protect human health, prevent or control pollution, and ensure sound environmental management of oceans and coastal areas.

In the fisheries area, developments over the last decade include negotiation of the 1993 Food and Agriculture (FAO) compliance agreement, the 1995 FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, and the 1995 UN fish stocks agreement. A moratorium on large-scale high seas driftnet fishing took effect in 1993, pursuant to a UN General Assembly resolution.

In addition, several new regional regimes were negotiated, including the 1992 convention on anadromous stocks in the North Pacific, the 1994 convention on pollock resources in the Central Bering Sea, the 2000 convention on highly migratory fish stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, and the 2001 convention on fisheries resources in the South East Atlantic.

Despite a decade of progress in establishing instruments and programs related to oceans, we still confront urgent and serious challenges. In stark terms, if we are to exercise the stewardship of the world’s oceans and marine resources necessary for sustainable development, protection of human health, alleviation of poverty, and enhancement of food security, we must now ensure the implementation of those instruments and programs to which we have agreed.

The implementation phase is perhaps less glamorous and more difficult than negotiating new instruments and establishing new programs, but this is the work we have to accomplish over the next decade if we are to fulfill the promises and expectations of the past ten years. Implementation requires strengthening national and regional institutional capacity to use advanced science and technology and other tools in support of cross-sectoral approaches to watershed and marine ecosystem management. It requires facilitating the transparent availability and harmonization of scientific data within and among governments and scientific bodies, so that decision-making can more readily be based on scientific information. It requires strengthening of global and regional governance capacity by increasing collaboration among oceans and fisheries organizations through mechanisms including joint meetings and programs and observer status. It also requires strengthening legal systems and structures so that international plans of action can be effectively carried out on a national and local basis. If we can accomplish these tasks, we will have overcome many of the obstacles that now prevent us from realizing the benefits of the international agreements we have reached.

Advancements in monitoring systems, application of ecosystem approaches to the study of oceans, and collection of data through such programs as the Global Ocean Observing System and the Census of Marine Life have given us most of the tools we need for the science-based decision-making that makes sustainable resource management possible. We recognize, however, that capacity building will be required in many countries so that this information is widely available to technical experts, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The information must also be more accessible, that is, more understandable to policymakers who may lack technical expertise.

Scientific understanding and regulatory frameworks developed by the international community to achieve a sustainable future will be for naught, if our efforts are undermined by corruption, criminal activity, or other failures of governance. Recognizing the need for accountability for rich and poor nations alike, President Bush has announced a Millennium Challenge Account, which will ramp up the annual baseline for US official development assistance by approximately 50 percent over the next three budget years. This account will reach an annual level of $5 billion for economic development assistance in countries that demonstrate a strong commitment to good governance, sound economic policies, and investing in their people.

The President’s initiative makes clear the importance of good governance -- rooting out corruption, upholding human rights, and adhering to the rule of law -- to successful, sustainable development. This theme will be a central focus of the World Summit on Sustainable Development. One of the cornerstones of sustainable development involves the establishment of the domestic institutional, legal, and regulatory infrastructure needed to manage natural resources effectively.

Such governance is particularly important in a number of fisheries, where a reversal in declining stocks is critical to reducing poverty and promoting food security. Flag states, coastal states, and importing states must have the will and the means to deter illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing. Management of coastal areas is another example where an effective governance infrastructure is crucial.

For a number of reasons, implementation of negotiated agreements should be focused on regions. Many of the global legal instruments and environmental programs that have come into force since 1992 apply to regions with vastly different attributes and problems. Approaches to environmental protection and conservation of resources that work in the Bering Sea, for example, wouldn’t necessarily be appropriate for the Caribbean or the Caspian.

For coastal and island states, the degradation of watersheds and marine ecosystems means reduced fisheries and biodiversity, loss of food security, increased risks to public health, and missed opportunities for sustainable economic development. Because marine ecosystems do not respect national boundaries, this vulnerability extends to neighboring states reliant on the fisheries resources of shared seas, making marine ecosystem degradation a regional concern and responsibility.

The unique features and problems of regional ecosystems, and the shared nature of their resources, call for a regional, cross-sectoral approach to finding solutions. Recognizing that states, international organizations, and NGOs have limited resources to address regional management challenges, we have as a key objective the development of a framework for regional management programs that promotes efficient use of programmatic resources and addresses the entire scope of watershed and marine ecosystem management from forests to the sea.

As part of its preparations for WSSD, the United States intends to promote a crosscutting regional program of watershed and marine ecosystem management, as a Type Two outcome. Initially, our focus is close to home, in the Wider Caribbean. The Caribbean region shares a common ecosystem, including its living marine resources, and common problems of pollution, public health concerns, habitat degradation, and declining fisheries. The region already has a number of effective programs in place that would contribute to the initiative, and whose results would be enhanced by a new emphasis on cross-sectoral management.

The U.S. is hoping to develop a broad partnership in the Caribbean Region to promote better coordination and collaboration in integrated watershed, coastal, and marine ecosystem management. At the WSSD prepcom meeting a couple of weeks ago, we were pleased to find many potential partners among countries in the region, developed countries outside the region, non-governmental, and private sector entities.

The ideas we are exploring with these partners include holding a major conference of Caribbean region stakeholders, which would include observers from Africa and the South Pacific; developing a regional website database listing national, bilateral, and multilateral cross-sectoral projects; and organizing workshops for training on GIS and other remote-sensing capabilities, to facilitate access to geographic information through a program of Global Information for Sustainable Development. The fruition of these discussions will feed into the Johannesburg conference.

To assist countries in accessing data, we would also like to see marine assessments integrated, with their results available and accessible to policymakers. It would be useful for the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) to refocus its efforts to facilitate this mission. In addition, the IOC should use its system of regional centers to provide training and access to expertise, perhaps through regional workshops on data and other resources. We would also like to see closer cooperation among the IOC, the UN Environment Program, the World Health Organization, UNDP, the FAO, and regional bodies carrying out oceans and fisheries programs. Improved cooperation and coordination are important areas of discussions, and we hope they are areas about which solutions can be suggested to the General Assembly.

I know this meeting has a full agenda this week. As my remarks demonstrate, the topics for the panel discussions overlap, because protection and preservation of the marine environment must be addressed through capacity-building, strengthened regional and international coordination, and integrated management. I am confident that the deliberations here will result in enhanced understanding of these interactions within the UN context, and will improve international cooperation on these matters that are so vital to the sustainable development of the resources of our planet.