1998 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE OCEAN:
MESSAGE OF UNESCO DIRECTOR-GENERAL

Paris, 29 December 1997 {No.97-250} - The importance of the ocean for human survival, implementation of agreements and policies required to sustain its health and resources for future generations, and the need for allocating adequate resources to ocean observations and scientific research are among key issues that will be promoted by the international community following the onset, on 1 January, of the 1998 International Year of the Ocean.

The International Year of the Ocean was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1994, at the initiative of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). Like other international years, the International Year of the Ocean intends to provide a year-long occasion to generate fresh thinking, debate and awareness about a global issue that the United Nations system, its Member States, and the people of the world consider worthy of special attention.

In its role as the designated lead agency for the Year, UNESCO will coordinate and organize the bulk of the campaign’s scientific debate and public awareness activities. Many Member States, as well as United Nations Programmes and Specialized Agencies with mandates in the field of marine affairs, are also expected to drive issue- or country-focused promotional campaigns on ocean-related matters throughout 1998.

Over the last decade, the oceans have increasingly become a focus of international law. In November 1994, twelve years after its adoption, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea entered into force. With its 320 articles and nine annexes, this vast convention—the fruit of 14 years of intensive negotiations involving more than 150 countries—lays down a comprehensive programme of law and order in the world’s oceans and seas. It provides detailed rules on such matters as navigational rights, territorial sea limits, economic jurisdiction, protection of the marine environment, and contains a unique and binding procedure for settlement of disputes.

Also following the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and increasingly alarmed by such phenomena as marine pollution, harmful algal blooms, sea level change linked to global warming, and worldwide droughts and floods thought to be related to the El Niņo phenomenon, Member States of the United Nations and its specialized agencies have set up various interagency cooperative programmes, such as the Global Ocean Observing System, to generate and exchange data and forecasts on the oceans.

Despite the fact that over two-thirds of the world’s population live near the ocean, which in turn covers two-thirds of the surface of the planet, this vast resource and its millions of species of plants and animals remain in great part unexplored and unknown. Likewise, decades of significant scientific observations point to growing evidence that the oceans play a key role in shaping world climate, yet the interplay between the global system of oceans, atmosphere, weather and climate remains poorly understood.

The International Year of the Ocean is going to be marked throughout the world with numerous activities and information campaigns. Most will be organized and carried out by Member States. UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission will act as the Year’s coordinator and information clearing house.

An ocean charter, launched under the auspices of the Government of Canada at the September 1997 Summit of the Sea held in St. John’s, Newfoundland, will be opened for signature by governments and individuals. The Charter is not a legally binding document but a declaration of goodwill and commitment to initiate and respect cooperative actions to preserve the oceans and coastal areas.

At least thirty conferences on marine issues, many publications and over a dozen research and training cruises are planned by Member States and will be taking place all over the world. A special United Nations series of postage stamps will be issued in May 1998. Thus far, more than twenty Member States have decided to issue national postage stamps for the International Year of the Ocean.

EXPO ‘98, the last international exposition of the century, will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, during the International Year of the Ocean, from 22 May to 30 September 1998, under the theme of ‘The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future’. As key players in the understanding and management of the marine world, the United Nations and its specialized agencies will exhibit their ocean-related environmental, legal, scientific and other activities and programmes at their Pavilion at EXPO ‘98.

A special message by Federico Mayor, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of the launch of the International Year of the Ocean, follows:

“For modern science, the sea is the very source of life on Earth. It is, so to speak, the amniotic fluid from which all living forms spring. Throughout history, the oceans have been vital to human civilisation - as a resource base, as a route to other lands and other peoples or as an outlet for population overflow. Over 90 percent of the planet's living and non-living resources are found within a few hundred kilometres of the coasts. On or near these coasts live two-thirds of the world's people. Without the sea, life on Earth would be impossible. Our planet would be a barren desert like Mars - about which, paradoxically, we probably know more than we do about the oceans.

“For the human imagination, the sea has always been a symbol of vastness and freedom. Now, at the close of the second millennium, competition for scarce resources is showing this freedom to have its limits. Growing demand is placing the marine environment and resources under increasing strain. History teaches that scarcity can be the cause of conflict and war. However, it may be hoped that the will today exists to shape our destinies otherwise.

“In an historic speech on 1 November 1967, Malta's Ambassador to the United Nations, Arvid Pardo, called for international regulations to prevent the oceans from becoming a theatre for escalating conflict between nations, to halt the poisoning of our oceans through negligence, and to protect its resources from exhaustion. His words did not fall on deaf ears. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a declaration providing that all sea-bed resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction constitute the common heritage of mankind. Fifteen years later, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - which attracted a record 159 signatures - provided the international community with an effective legal framework covering navigational rights, territorial sea limits, rights of passage, questions of economic jurisdiction, the conservation and management of living marine resources, and procedures for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

“But the value of legal instruments is dependent on how far they are respected and enforced. This planet does not belong to the adults of today and should not be managed on the basis of short-term considerations of economic gain or political power. If the signatures of our children were needed to ratify decisions that affect their future, many of the destructive actions perpetrated today would certainly cease. Whatever we do, the ocean will survive in one way or another. What is more problematic is whether we shall preserve it in a state that ensures humanity’s survival and well-being. Time is short, and the issue is in the balance.

“The United Nations has declared 1998 the International Year of the Ocean as a celebration of this source of life and civilisation. But this international year is also a reminder of the need to protect this most precious of resources, an affirmation of our commitment to safeguard the rights of future generations, for whom we hold our planet - and its life-sustaining oceans - in trust.”

For further information contact Press Service, Tel: 01 45 68 17 46; Fax: 01 45 68 56 52
International Year of the Ocean web site:
http://ioc.unesco.org/iyo/