A/RES/68/70. Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, 2013

• Resolution Number: A/RES/68/70
• Session: 68th
• Issuer: General Assembly of the United Nation

United Nations

A

/RES/68/70

General Assembly

Distr.: General

27 February 2014

Sixty-eighth session

Agenda item 76 (a)

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Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 2013

[without reference to a Main Committee (A/68/L.18 a nd Add.1)]

68/70. Oceans and the law of the sea

The Genera l Assem bly

,

Reca lling

its annual res olution s o n th e la w o f th e s ea a nd o n o ceans and the

law of the se a, in cludin g res olution 67/78 of 11 Decemb er 20 12, a nd ot her r elevant

reso lutions co ncernin g t he U nited Nati ons Conve ntion on the Law of the Sea (th e

Convention),

1

Hav ing c onside red

the r eport of the Secret ary-Ge neral,

2

the reco mmend ations

of the Ad H oc O pen-en ded I nforma l Work ing G roup to s tudy issues rela ting to th e

cons ervatio n and s ustaina ble use of mari ne biol ogical dive rsity b eyond a reas of

nati onal juri sdictio n (the Ad Ho c Open-e nded Info rmal Work ing Group )

3

and t he

repo rts o n th e wo rk of the Unit ed N ations O pen-en ded I nforma l Co nsultat ive

Proc ess on Ocea ns and the L aw of the Se a (the Infor mal Co nsulta tive P rocess) at it s

four teenth meet ing,

4

on the twent y-third M eeting of States Part ies to th e

Convention,

5

and on the wor k of the Ad Hoc Worki ng Group of the Whole on the

Reg ular Proce ss for Globa l Reporti ng and Asse ssment of th e S tate of the Mar ine

Envi ronmen t, incl uding Socioec onomic Aspects (the R egular Proce ss),

6

Reco gnizing

the pre-e minent co ntribut ion provid ed by the Conve ntion to the

stre ngtheni ng of p eace, s ecurity, c oopera tion an d fr iendly r elation s a mong al l

nati ons in c onform ity wit h the pr inciple s of jus tice and equal righ ts and t o the

prom otion of the econo mic and social adva ncemen t of all peo ples of the world, in

acco rdance with t he pur poses and pr inciple s of t he Unit ed Nat ions a s set f orth in the

Cha rter of th e United Nation s, as well as to the s ustaina ble deve lopmen t of the

ocea ns and seas,

_______________

1

United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1833, No. 31363.

2

A/68/71 and Add.1 and Add.1/Corr.1.

3

A/68/399, annex, sect. I.

4

A/68/159.

5

SPLOS/263.

6

A/68/82 and Corr.1.

A/RES/68/70 Oceans and the law of the sea

2/47

Emphasizing

th e u niversal a nd unif ied cha racter of t he Conv ention, and

reaff irming tha t the C onventio n set s out t he leg al fra mework wi thin whic h all

activ ities i n the oceans and sea s must be ca rried o ut and is of strateg ic impo rtance as

the b asis for nation al, regi onal and global acti on and coop eration in t he mari ne

secto r, and that it s integr ity nee ds to be mai ntained, as re cognized also by the United

Natio ns Con ference on Envir onment and Dev elopmen t in cha pter 17 of Agenda 21,

7

Reco gnizing

the im portan t co ntribut ion of sus tainabl e d evelop ment and

mana gemen t of the re source s and uses of th e ocea ns an d seas to t he ac hievem ent o f

inte rnation al develo pment go als, incl uding th ose conta ined in the U nited Na tions

Mill ennium Decla ration,

8

Not ing w ith satisfa ction

t hat, in t he o utcome docu ment of the U nited Natio ns

Conf erence on Sustai nable Develo pment, held in Rio d e Jane iro, Brazil, from 20 to

22 J une 20 12, en titled “The future we w ant”,

9

as endors ed by the G eneral Assem bly

in r esoluti on 66/288 of 27 Jul y 201 2, Stat es reco gnized that o ceans, seas and co astal

area s for m an int egrated and esse ntial compo nent of t he E arth’s ecosys tem and are

crit ical to sustai ning it, and tha t in ternati onal law, as refle cted in the Conv ention ,

prov ides the leg al fra mewor k for the c onserva tion a nd su stainab le use of t he oc eans

and their resou rces, and st ressed the import ance o f the conse rvation and sustai nable

use of t he oce ans and seas and of thei r reso urces f or sust ainable develo pment,

incl uding t hrough the ir contr ibutio ns to po verty e radica tion, su staine d econo mic

grow th, fo od sec urity a nd cre ation o f susta inable liveli hoods a nd dec ent wo rk, whi le

at the sa me tim e pro tecting biodi versity and the ma rine environ ment and ad dressin g

the impact s of cl imate c hange,

Reiterating

the imp ortanc e of ocean s and seas for susta inable de velopm ent,

and no ting, taki ng into acco unt the differ ent positi ons of Memb er States, th at the

Ope n Workin g Grou p on S ustain able De velop ment Go als es tablish ed by the Ge neral

Asse mbl y

10

wil l consi der the issue of ocea ns and seas a t its e ighth s ession,

Reca lling

t hat, in “ The future we want”, Sta tes u ndersco red that broad publi c

part icipati on a nd ac cess to i nformat ion a nd j udicial and admi nistrat ive p roceed ings

were essent ial to th e promo tion of s ustain able dev elopme nt and t hat sust ainable

deve lopmen t r equire d t he mea ningfu l i nvolve ment a nd act ive par ticipa tion of

regi onal, nationa l and subn ational legis latures and judicia ries, and a ll maj or gro ups,

and, in th is r egard, th at t hey agree d to wo rk more clo sely with maj or groups and

othe r sta keholde rs an d enc ourage d the ir act ive p articip ation, as appr opriat e, in

proc esses that contr ibute to de cision- making , p lanning an d i mpleme ntation of

poli cies an d prog rammes for su stainab le dev elopmen t at al l level s,

Conscious

that the proble ms o f oc ean space are close ly i nterrel ated and need

to be co nsidere d as a wh ole t hrough an in tegrated, interd isciplinar y and intersec toral

appro ach, and reaffir ming the need to impro ve cooperati on a nd coordina tion at the

natio nal, regional an d g lobal levels, in acc ordance with th e C onvention , t o su pport

and su pplement t he effo rts of each S tate in prom oting the i mplementa tion a nd

obse rvance of t he Co nventi on a nd th e in tegrate d ma nageme nt a nd s ustaina ble

deve lopmen t of th e ocea ns and seas,

_______________

7

Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio d e Janeiro, 3–14 June

1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93 .I.8 and

corrigendum), resolution 1, annex II.

8

Resolution 55/2.

9

Resolution 66/288, annex.

10

See decision 67/555.

Oceans and the law of the sea A/RES/68/70

3/47

Reiterating

the es sential ne ed fo r coo peration, includi ng th rough cap acity-

build ing and transf er of ma rine t echnology, to en sure t hat all St ates, e specially

devel oping cou ntries, i n particul ar the le ast develo ped coun tries and small is land

devel oping States, as well as coastal Afric an S tates, are able both to implemen t the

Conve ntion and to bene fit from t he sustai nable dev elopment of the o ceans and seas, as

well as to par ticipate fully in global and r egional forums and proces ses de aling with

ocean s and law of the s ea issues,

Emphasizing

the need to stre ngthen the abi lity o f co mpetent i nternation al

organi zations to contr ibute, at the global , re gional, subr egional and bila teral levels,

throu gh co operatio n pro grammes with Gove rnments, to the develop ment of n ational

capac ity in ma rine science and the sus tainable mana gement of the oceans and the ir

resou rces,

Recalling

t hat m arine science is i mportant for eradica ting p overty, contribut ing

to fo od secur ity, conse rving the world’s marine e nvironme nt and r esources , helping to

under stand, predi ct and resp ond to nat ural eve nts and pro moting the sus tainable

devel opment o f the ocean s and sea s, by impr oving kno wledge, t hrough su stained

resea rch ef forts and the eva luation of mon itoring resu lts, a nd ap plying such

knowl edge to manageme nt and de cision-ma king,

Reit erating its de ep con cern

at t he seri ous adv erse i mpacts on t he mar ine

envi ronmen t and biod iversi ty, in partic ular on v ulnerab le marin e ecosys tems and

thei r physi cal and bioge nic stru cture, inc luding cor al reef s, cold water hab itats,

hydr otherm al vent s and seamoun ts, of certai n human activ ities,

Emphasizing

the need for t he safe a nd enviro nmentall y sound re cycling o f ships,

Exp ressing de ep concer n

at the adve rse econo mic, soci al and envir onment al

impa cts o f the physi cal al teratio n and destr uction of marine habita ts tha t may resu lt

from land -based a nd c oastal dev elopme nt ac tivitie s, in pa rticula r tho se la nd

recl amatio n acti vities that are carried out in a mann er th at ha s a detrim ental impact

on t he mar ine env ironme nt,

Reit erating its seri ous concer n

a t th e cur rent and projec ted a dverse effe cts o f

clim ate c hange and oc ean a cidific ation on the mari ne env ironme nt and marin e

biod iversit y, an d emph asizing the u rgency of addr essing these i ssues,

Exp ressing conc ern

t hat cl imate chang e con tinues to increas e the seve rity a nd

inci dence of c oral ble aching t hrougho ut tropi cal seas a nd weak ens the ab ility of

reef s to withs tand oce an acidi ficatio n, which c ould ha ve seriou s and irre versib le

nega tive effe cts on marin e organis ms, parti cularly co rals, as we ll as to withst and

othe r press ures, i ncludi ng over fishin g and p ollutio n,

Reit erating i ts deep conc ern

at the vuln erabili ty of the envir onment an d t he

frag ile ecosyst ems of the polar regio ns, includ ing the Arctic Oce an a nd t he Arctic

ice cap, partic ularly affect ed by the projec ted ad verse effects of climate chan ge an d

ocea n acid ificatio n,

Reco gnizing

t he ne ed fo r a more integr ated and e cosyst em-bas ed ap proach to,

furt her stud y of a nd t he p romoti on o f me asures for en hanced coo perati on,

coor dinatio n and collab oratio n r elating to th e c onserv ation and su stainab le use of

mari ne bio diversi ty beyo nd are as of n ational jurisd iction,

Reco gnizin g a lso

that the reali zation of the ben efits of the Conve ntion coul d

be enh anced by int ernati onal coop eration , tec hnical as sistanc e and adv anced

scie ntific knowled ge, as well a s by fu nding and cap acity- buildin g,