A/RES/69/245. Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, 2014
| Year | 2014 |
| Resolution Number | A/RES/69/245 |
| Session | 69th |
| Issuer | General Assembly of the United Nation |
United Nations A/RES/69/245*
General Assembly Distr.: General
24 February 2015
Sixty-ninth session
Agenda item 74 (a)
14-68097* (E)
*1468097*
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Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 29 December 2014
[
with out refe rence t o a Ma in Com mittee (A/69/ L.29 a nd Add. 1)
]
69/245. Oceans a nd the law of the sea
The Genera l Assem bly
,
Reca llin g
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 sea, incl uding resol ution 68/7 0 of 9 D ecembe r 20 13, and other rele vant
reso lutions co ncernin g t he U nited Nati ons Conve ntion on the Law of the Sea (th e
Con vent ion) ,
1
Hav ing c onside red
t he re port of t he S ecretar y-Gene ral
2
and the repo rts o n the
work of th e Ad H oc Work ing Gro up of the Wh ole on the R egular Proces s for Global
Rep orting and Assessm ent of th e Sta te of the M arine En vironm ent, inc luding
Soci oecono mic As pects (the R egular Proces s),
3
of the Ad Hoc Open-e nded I nformal
Worki ng G roup to study iss ues relatin g t o th e co nserva tion and susta inable use of
mari ne bio logica l dive rsity beyond areas of na tional jurisd iction (the Ad Ho c Ope n-
ende d Inf ormal Wor king Gro up),
4
of th e Uni ted Nati ons O pen-en ded I nforma l
Cons ultati ve Pr ocess on Oceans and the Law of t he Se a (th e Inf ormal Cons ultativ e
Proc ess) at its fiftee nth meeting
5
and on the tw enty-fo urth Meetin g of States Partie s
to t he Con vention ,
6
Not ing with sa tisfact ion
that 16 Novem ber 201 4 m arked t he twen tieth
anni versar y of the ent ry in to for ce of t he Co nventi on, an d rec ognizi ng the
pre- eminen t cont ributio n pro vided by th e Con ventio n to the s trength ening of p eace,
secu rity, co operati on and friend ly rel ations among all na tions i n conf ormity with the
prin ciples o f justice and equa l rights a nd to the p romotio n of the ec onomic and
soci al adv anceme nt of all pe oples of the world, in ac cordan ce wit h the purpos es and
prin ciples of th e Unit ed Nat ions a s set forth in the Char ter of the U nited Nation s, as
well as to the sus tainab le deve lopmen t of th e ocean s and seas,
_______________
* Reissued for technical reasons on 10 August 2015.
1 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1833, No. 31363.
2 A/69/71 and Add.1.
3 A/69/77.
4 A/69/82, annex, and A/69/177, annex.
5 A/69/90.
6 SPLOS/277.
A/RES/69/245 Oceans and the law of the sea
2/50
Emp hasi zin g
the uni versal and unifi ed char acter o f th e C onventi on, and
reaff irming that the Conv ention se ts out the lega l fram ework wi thin w hich all
acti vities in the oceans and se as must be car ried o ut and is of s trategi c impo rtance as
the b asis for nation al, regi onal and global acti on and co operat ion in th e marin e
sect or, and that its in tegrity needs to be main tained, as rec ognize d also by t he
Unit ed Na tions Con ferenc e on Env ironme nt an d Dev elopme nt in ch apter 1 7 of
Age nda 21,
7
Reco gni zing
the i mportan t co ntribut ion of su stainab le 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 o f 27 Ju ly 201 2, Stat es rec ognized that oceans , 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 t heir re source s for s ustaina ble dev elopme nt,
incl uding t hrough the ir contr ibutio ns to po verty e radica tion, su stained 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,
Reit era ting
the imp ortanc e of ocean s and seas for susta inable de velopm ent,
noti ng tha t the Open Worki ng Gr oup on Susta inable Develo pment Goals establ ished
by the Gen eral Assem bly consid ered the issu e o f oc eans and sea s an d p ropose d a
goal to cons erve an d susta inably use the o ceans, seas an d marin e resou rces fo r
sust ainable dev elopme nt,
10
rec alling its resolu tion 68/309 of 10 Sep tember 201 4, in
whic h it welcom ed the repor t o f t he Open Worki ng Group
10
and deci ded that the
prop osal o f the Open Working Group conta ined i n the report shall be t he mai n basi s
for inte grating sust ainable de velopm ent goa ls into th e po st-201 5 d evelop ment
agen da, w hile r ecogni zing that ot her in puts will al so be co nsidere d, in th e
inte rgovern mental ne gotiat ion proce ss at the sixt y-nint h s ession o f t he Assem bly,
and in t his r egard reaffir ming that interna tional law, as re flected in t he C onventi on,
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 r esourc es,
Reca llin g
that in “The futur e we wa nt”, States und erscore d t hat b road 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 ningful i nvolvem ent an d acti ve par ticipat ion 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
_______________
7 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de 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 A/68/970 and Corr.1.
Oceans and the law of the sea A/RES/69/245
3/50
othe r sta keholde rs an d enc ourage d the ir act ive p articip ation, as appr opriate , in
proc esses t hat con tribut e 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,
Con scio us
that the proble ms o f oc ean space are close ly i nterrel ated and need
to b e cons idered as a w hole t hrough an int egrated , inter discipl inary and int ersecto ral
appr oach, and reaffi rming the need to improv e co operat ion a nd c oordin ation at the
nati onal, regio nal a nd g lobal level s, in acco rdance wit h the Con ventio n, to sup port
and sup plemen t the effo rts of each Stat e in p romoti ng the imple mentat ion an d
obse rvance of th e 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,
Reit era ting
th e essen tial n eed for coope ration, inclu ding th rough cap acity-
buil ding an d trans fer of marine techno logy, to ens ure tha t all St ates, e special ly
deve loping co untrie s, in partic ular the le ast devel oped cou ntries an d small isla nd
deve loping State s, as well as coastal Afri can States, are able both to i mplemen t the
Con vention and to ben efit f rom th e sust ainable deve lopment of t he oce ans a nd sea s,
as well as to partic ipate fully in glob al a nd regiona l fo rums and proce sses deali ng
with ocean s and l aw of t he sea issues,
Emp hasi zin g
th e need to stre ngthen th e abil ity of comp etent inte rnation al
orga nizatio ns to cont ribute, at the global, regi onal, subre gional and bilate ral l evels,
thro ugh co operat ion pr ogramm es wi th Gov ernmen ts, to the develop ment of nati onal
capa city in ma rine scienc e an d the sust ainable man agemen t of the ocean s and thei r
reso urces,
Reca llin g
tha t mari ne scie nce is import ant fo r eradi cating povert y, co ntribut ing
to food securit y, conser ving the w orld’s marine envir onment and resou rces, helpin g
to under stand, pred ict and r espond to natur al e vents and promo ting the sustai nable
deve lopmen t of the ocean s and seas, b y i mprovi ng knowl edge, thr ough sust ained
rese arch e fforts and the eva luation of m onitori ng res ults, a nd ap plying such
kno wledge to man agemen t and d ecision -makin g,
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 wat er habi tats,
hydr otherm al vent s and seamoun ts, of certai n human activ ities,
Emp hasi zin g
the n eed for the safe and env ironme ntally s ound re cycling of
ship s,
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 co astal dev elopme nt ac tivitie s, in par ticular thos e lan d
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 effec ts o f
clim ate c hange and oc ean ac idifica tion o n the ma rine envi ronmen t and ma rine
biod iversit y, a nd emph asizin g the u rgency of addr essing these issues,
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 effec ts 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,
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