Highlights and images for 26 February 2019

Summary

Highlights for Tuesday, 26 February 2019

Bird’s eye view of the Council’s deliberations

On Tuesday, the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) continued its deliberations on components of the draft regulations for exploitation of mineral resources in the Area, focusing on:

regulatory efficiency, including potential delegation of functions by the Council to the Secretariat;

the relationship between the draft exploitation regulations and regional environmental management plans (REMPs); and

implementation of the precautionary approach to activities in the Area.

Highlights of the day include:

general agreement that REMPs should be developed before commercial mining activities commence;

in-depth discussion on which functions of the Council could be delegated to the Secretariat to increase efficiency; and

agreement on the importance of implementing the precautionary approach/principle to activities in the Area, but ongoing debate about which terminology to use.

During lunchtime, a side event organized by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, and the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt), focused on developing a benefit-sharing mechanism appropriate for the common heritage of mankind. For extensive details on the day’s negotiations and to hear what delegates said in the corridors, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin.

IISD Reporting Services, through its Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from the 1st Part of ISA-25. In addition, IISD Reporting Services, has published a summary and analysis report of the meeting, which is available in HTML and PDF.

Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera

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Kathy Ann Brown, Jamaica

Christopher Brown, ISA Secretariat

Tetsuya Yoshimoto, Japan

Enrico Milano, Italy

Siosiua ‘Utoikamanu and Tevita Suka Mangisi, Tonga

Didier Ortolland, France

Nicole Lyas and David Yardley, Australia

Clement Yow Mulalap, Federated States of Micronesia

Francisco Javier Bernales, Chile

ISA delegates in informal consultations

José María Bosch Bessa, Spain

Ernesto Malda, Mexico

Carlos Alberto Michaelsen den Hartog, Brazil, in consultation with Amanda Fraser, Trinidad and Tobago

Lumka Yengeni, South Africa, Council President for the 25th Session; Thembile Joyini, South Africa; and Gwénaëlle Le Gurun, ISA Secretariat