About
UN-OCEANS
NOTE: The information presented on this UN-OCEANS web-site is under development. None of the information presented here has been approved by the Partners of UN-OCEANS. March 9, 2005.
About UN-OCEANS
Brief
History of UN-OCEANS
Background
Documents (link to Documents / Reports)
Scope
and Objectives including Terms of Reference
Participation
in UN-OCEANS
Programme
of Work
Officers
and Secretariats
In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development ("the Earth Summit") adopted Agenda 21 - an international programme of action for global sustainable development for the 21st century. Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 specifically deals with the protection of the oceans and the protection and rational use and development of their living resources. To present a coordinated and comprehensive view of UN agency activities in support of Chapter 17, the UN agencies dealing with oceans and coastal issues formed the Sub-committee on Oceans and Coastal Areas of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC SOCA) in 1993.
Following a review of coordination mechanisms of the ACC in November 2001, the ACC concluded that all existing subsidiary bodies should cease to exist by the end of 2001 and that future inter-agency support requirements would best be handled through ad hoc, time-bound, task-oriented arrangements using a lead agency approach. Subsequent consultations between the UN Programs and Agencies participating in the coordination of oceans and coasts indicated strong interest in developing a new inter-agency coordinating mechanism consistent with the new arrangements being developed in the United Nations system.
In September 2003, the United Nations High-Level Committee on Programmes approved the creation of an Oceans and Coastal Areas Network (subsequently named "UN-Oceans") to build on SOCA, covering a wide range of issues and composed of the relevant programmes, entities and specialized agencies of the UN system and the secretariats of the relevant international conventions, including the International Seabed Authority and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Following recommendations from the Informal Consultative Process and taking into account the decisions of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in this regard, the 57th Session of the General Assembly invited the Secretary-General to establish an effective, transparent and regular inter-agency coordination mechanism on oceans and coastal issues within the United Nations system. UNESCO / IOC hosted the first meeting of UN-OCEANS in January 2005.
Scope and Objectives including Terms of Reference
The objective of UN-OCEANS Network is to enhance cooperation and coordination among Secretariats of the International Organizations and Bodies concerned with ocean related activities. UN-OCEANS noted the goals adopted by WSSD, namely:
- Maintenance
of the productivity and biodiversity of important and vulnerable marine
and coastal areas and implement the Jakarta mandate on biodiversity;
- Application
of the ecosystem approach by 2010 for the sustainable development of
oceans;
- Promotion
of integrated coals and ocean management at national and regional levels;
- Establishment
of a UN inter-agency mechanism on oceans and coasts;
- Implementation
of fishery capacity management measures by 2005;
- Elimination
of illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries by 2004;
- Maintenance
or restoration of depleted fish stocks on MSY levels by 2015;
- Development
of networks of marine protected areas by 2012;
- Implementation
of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment
from Land-based Activities to achieve substantial progress by 2006;
- Development
of integrated water resources management plans by 2005;
- Accelerate
development of measures to address invasive species in ballast water;
and
- Establishment of a process for global marine assessment by 2004.
It also recognized the requirement for effective coordination and cooperation at the origin of the establishment of the Network by the 57th session of the UN General Assembly (A/RES/57/141) and the strong connection with the Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS, hereafter called ICP) and the functions the latter identified for the Network (from Terms of Reference for the Oceans and Coastal Areas Network (UN-Oceans) presented at ICP-4):
- Strengthening
coordination and cooperation of the UN activities related to ocean and
coastal areas;
- Reviewing
the relevant programmes and activities of the UN system, undertaken
as part of their contribution to the implementation of the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Agenda 21, and the Johannesburg
Plan Of Implementation (JPOI);
- Identification
of emerging issues, the definition of joint actions, and the establishment
of specific task teams to deal with these, as appropriate;
- Promoting
the integrated management of ocean at the international level;
- Facilitating
as appropriate, the inputs to the annual report of the Secretary General
on oceans and the law of the sea;
- Promoting
the coherence of the UN system activities on oceans and coastal areas
with the mandates of the General Assembly, and the priorities contained
in the Millennium Development Goals, the JPOI and of governing bodies
of all UN-Oceans members.
UN-OCEANS noted that in order to cover political, legal, security, economic, social, and environmental aspects, it should include, in addition to the former SOCA members, international financial and other institutions like the International Seabed Authority and secretariats of multilateral environment treaties. In this respect, the members noted with satisfaction the attendance of the CBD and the ISA in addition to the members of the former SOCA.
UN-OCEANS agreed that any secretariat in the UN system may become a member through a simple expression of will. In the list that follows, all the organizations that participated in the previous work of SOCA, or in the informal coordination for the ICP meetings have been included, as well as those organizations that have expressed their interest to participate. An explicit call has also been made to financial institutions. The list of potential members includes: UN-DESA, UN-DOALOS, FAO, UNESCO, UNEP, World Bank (IBRD), IMO, WMO, UNDP, IAEA, CBD, ISA, ILO, UNIDO, WTO, WHO, UNHSP ("UN-HABITAT"), UNFCCC, Ramsar, UNCTAD, UNU, OECD, and IHO.
UN-OCEANS agreed that the participation of relevant international NGOs and other international stakeholders in the work of the UN-OCEANS Task Forces should be encouraged under the responsibility of the lead institutions coordinating the task forces. UN-OCEANS also agreed that I-NGOs should be invited to contribute to the activities of the task forces and might be invited to attend selected items of the UN-OCEANS agenda.
UN-OCEANS agreed to operate as a flexible mechanism to review joint and overlapping ongoing activities and to support related deliberations of the ICP, coordinating as far as possible its meetings with ICP sessions. To that effect, the Organizing Secretariat was based in UN-DOALOS.
UN-OCEANS agreed to pursue time-bound initiatives, with well-defined terms of reference, through ad hoc Task Forces open to the participation of NGOs and other international stakeholders as required. These task forces, coordinated by a lead institution (with mandate and major activities in the specific issues being considered) will foster collaboration around existing joint activities (see inter-agency activities), already developing efforts (e.g. the Global Marine Assessment, GMA), as well as new emerging activities UN-OCEANS will identify. The task forces will also collaborate as required with other existing and relevant mechanisms such as the Global International Water Assessment (GIWA), the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) and the Global Oceans Observing System (GOOS).
UN-OCEANS agreed
that, in preparing its programme of work, it will take into account:
(i) the Programme of Work adopted by the Governing bodies of each institution;
(ii) the recommendations of existing inter-agency coordinating mechanism;
and
(iii) the programmatic framework of recommendations from the JPOI and
the ICP, taking into account new and emerging issues that will require
the attention of the network, as well as reporting requirements or needs.
UN-OCEANS decided that the Coordinator of UN-OCEANS and a Deputy Coordinator shall normally be elected for a term of 2 years. In order to ensure consistency, UN-OCEANS will aim at avoiding that both the Coordinator and the Deputy Coordinator end their term at the same time.
UN-OCEANS must be provided with adequate secretariat support to ensure its smooth and effective functioning. To decrease the financial and human resource requirements for providing secretariat support, UN-OCEANS decided to establish a "distributed secretariat", with functions divided into an Organizing Secretariat and an Implementing Secretariat:
The Organizing Secretariat established in UN-DOALOS will, in consultation with the Coordinators, assist the Network in meeting its reporting requirements, including coordinating the preparation of its reports and organizing meetings.
The Implementing Secretariat established in IOC-UNESCO will, in consultation with the Coordinators, assist the Network in strengthening cooperation, reviewing the relevant programmes and activities, and promoting the coherence of the UN system activities on oceans and coastal areas (Terms of Reference a, b, and f). The work of a secretariat in this regard would be :
- To compile information about existing programs and activities as outlined in Section D. Programme of Work, including existing inter-agency cooperation mechanisms and newly created task forces, and to make this information available to the partners (either in the form of a regularly updated status report and/or as an on-line information tool);
- To maintain this information as a dynamic communication and information service (perform regular reviews and updates);
- To critically review this information within the framework of UN mandates to bring to the attention of the partners any potential gaps, duplications, or possible areas for collaboration;
- To follow-up any actions developed by UN-OCEANS that do not fall under the responsibilities of either the organizing secretariat or one of the task forces;
- To work closely with the organizing secretariat to provide this compiled information and syntheses for use in any necessary reporting activities.