In the agenda of this Conference is a draft "Declaration on Securing the Oceans: Toward a New Concept of Ocean Security". The adoption of this Declaration will mark the historic significance of the Conference.

　

 The Project Proposal hereby submitted seeks to transform the Declaration as adopted by the Conference into a "Draft United Nations Declaration on the Imperative to Integrate Relevant International Regimes Towards a Comprehensive Global System of Ocean Governance", which embodies the new concept of ocean security under the Conference Declaration.

　

 The Draft UN Declaration makes provision for the implementation of the new concept of ocean security within the United Nations system, with the Conference of Parties under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as the lead agency.

　

　

 The starting point of this Project Proposal is the Declaration as may be adopted by this Conference, entitled "Declaration on Securing the Oceans: Toward a New Concept of Ocean Security". Implementation of the Project Proposal is divided into the following Phases:

　

 1. In adopting the Declaration ("Declaration on Securing the Ocean: Towards a New Concept of Ocean Security"), the Conference will consider it as a working basis for a DRAFT UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE IMPERATIVE TO INTEGRATE RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL REGIMES TOWARDS A COMPREHENSIVE GLOBAL SYSTEM OF OCEAN GOVERNANCE, which is set forth in ANNEX "A" herewith.

　

 With this objective, the Conference may find it necessary to convene as a workshop, the task of which is to examine the feasibility of transforming the Declaration as adopted by the Conference into a Draft United Nations General Assembly Declaration as thus prepared.

　

 2. The formulation of the new concept of ocean security enunciated by the Conference is to embodied in the Draft UN General Assembly Declaration in its preambular paragraphs. The operative paragraphs of the UN Draft Declaration will provide for the initial measures of its implementation.

　

 Accordingly, upon adoption of the UN Declaration, the UN Secretariat, upon instruction of the Secretary-General, will prepare a working paper to concretize the requirements under the Declaration as adopted by the General Assembly, clarify further as part of a working plan the new concept of ocean security, and contribute its own interpretation. Together with the UN Declaration, the Secretariat's working paper may form the basis of the initial discussion by the Conference of Parties under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as well as the reference point of consultations on the part of the institutional arrangements under the other multilateral conventions particularly mentioned in the UN Declaration.

　

 3. This method of presentation to the international community is intended to dramatize the importance of shifting humankind's collective interests in the ocean space to the new concept of ocean security as proposed by the Conference.

　

 The UN General Assembly as a medium of expression of the new concept of ocean security represents the authority as well the democratic base of the international community.

　

 1. The main burden of implementation belongs to the Conference of Parties under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), together with the Conference or Meeting of Parties in the other relevant multilateral conventions.

　

 2. The Conference of Parties is the plenary organ representing all states parties in a multilateral treaty. It may be explicitly established or on the basis of implied powers under the treaty. It is not in the nature of international organization, but it may create its own continuing executive committee, a secretariat or other subsidiary bodies. It has the authority to provide for internal matters such as adopting rules of procedure and guidelines for its subsidiary bodies and secretariat.¹

　

 Of particular significance to the implementation of the Declaration upon adoption by the General Assembly are three functions which a Conference of Parties under the UNCLOS may assume: (1) it may further develop by means of a continuing rule-making process the obligations of the states parties under the multilateral treaty, for example, by adopting protocols; (2) it may exercise supervisory function over the implementation of the treaty or compliance of obligations by states parties under the treaty; and (3) it may establish a mechanism for maintaining close relations with the conference of parties under other multilateral treaties for the purpose of coordinated implementation, towards integration of their functions and programs of action.²

　

 3. As the lead agency in the implementation of the Declaration, the Conference Parties under the UNCLOS may be convened as recommended by the General Assembly. While textually this Convention makes no provision for a Conference of Parties, by implied powers the states parties may convene such a Conference.

　

 4. Acting on the UN Declaration, a state party or a number of states parties may, by written communication, request the UN Secretary-General to convene a Conference of Parties pursuant to the recommendation of the General Assembly in the UN Declaration in relation to the direct mandate addressed to him under Article 319(2)(e) of the UNCLOS that "[he] shall convene necessary meetings of States Parties in accordance with this Convention."³ In the discharge of this function he acts as UN Secretary-General and not merely as depositary of the UNCLOS.⁴

　

 Such a Meeting or Conference of States Parties may take place within the larger frame drawn up in the third preambular paragraph of the UNCLOS which declares that "the problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and need to be considered as a whole".

　

 5. Thus, guided by the object and purpose of the UN Declaration, with the benefit of assistance of the UN Secretariat, and with the continuing process of consultation and collaboration maintained with other Conference of Parties, the initial work of the Conference of Parties under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea can evolve into a new global regime of ocean governance, achieving unity of function and implementation among the otherwise fragmented regulatory systems and overcoming the barriers to unified standard-setting and regulatory measures between marine areas of national jurisdiction and the ocean space beyond it.

　

 1. The UNCLOS Conference of Parties may envisage an internal organizational structure to carry on it work under the UN Declaration, as follows:

　

　

 The Conference of Parties may rely on its plenary powers to be interpreted as analagous to the implied powers of an international organization under international law.⁵ The pronouncement of the International Court of Justice in its Advisory Opinion in Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons is relevant to the flexibility by which the Conference of Parties will have the deal with complex problems in the discharge of its obligations:

　

 The Coordinating Bureau shown above will have to establish a broad consultation network involving relations with states, international organizations, UN bodies, and non-governmental organizations - forces and institutions engaged in global governance. In this light, it may be instructed to have in mind the concept of global governance which the Commission on Global Governance has taken as its guiding principle in its work:

　

 Through the three international conferences devoted to the new concept of ocean security, the Ship & Ocean Foundation has entered the complexity of problems in global governance. Its initiative is all the more of great importance on account of the fact that it is in the nature of an undertaking to shift the basis of the existing regime to a new foundation, thus requiring both conceptual and structural change.

　

 To pursue this herculean task, the Conference or the Ship & Ocean Foundation may have to organize a Secretariat to implement an action plan that could assist in the mobilization of forces and institutions contemplated by the Commission on Global Governance in its concept.

　

　

　

 Guided by the purpose of the United Nations under its Charter that it be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of common ends, among which is to achieve international cooperation in solving problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character;

　

 Aware of the reality that the oceans have become the critical medium of sustainability of life on Planet Earth, on account of the increased burden of development upon the resources of the sea and of the continuing degradation of the global environment on the whole, as well as of the security threats arising from new sources of tensions and conflicts in the post-Cold War world;

　

 Conscious of the prospect that the conditions of the Planet's biosphere are in the making of a catastrophe through the destruction of ocean and coastal ecosystems, the depletion of ocean resources, global warming and climate change, and that they are of such magnitude as to be threatening the very survival of the human race itself;

　

 Deeply concerned that the impact of global warming on the oceans, in particular the rise of sea level, has become a security problem of major proportion to island states, mid-ocean archipelagoes and to the coastal population worldwide;

　

 Bearing in mind that international terrorism has extended its operations to the oceans and imperils maritime commerce;

　

 Believing that significant change of circumstances pertaining to the uses of the ocean has accentuated the necessity for a fundamental review of the relevant security regimes towards a new concept of securing the ocean;

　

 Reaffirming the principle underlying the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that the problems of ocean space are closely interrelated and need to be considered as a whole;

　

 Taking note, however, that the oceans, their resources, and functions are compartmentalized into a proliferation of regulatory systems, even as they are inherently interconnected and they assume unity in the common interests of the international community;

　

 Noting further that the territorialization of the ocean space needs to be in functional unity with a framework for cooperative decision-making in a desirable global system of ocean governance, to the end that the requirements of national sovereignty are harmonized with those of such governance in response to the dynamics of changing circumstances;

　

 Emphasizing that the security of all nations and peoples are integral to the security of the oceans as a whole and the need for a unified and comprehensive system of ocean governance reflects the common concern of the international community,

　

　

 1. Decides to recognize the necessity for a comprehensive review of the state of regulatory systems and management mechanisms pertaining to the ocean space, with the view to evolve a unified regime of ocean governance based on a security concept that integrates all aspects of ocean management, including environmental protection, resource utilization, meteorological concerns, military and anti-terrorist activities and maintenance of peace, taking into account as well the need for a collaborative framework in standard setting or regulatory mechanism in areas of national jurisdiction as part of ocean governance;

　

 2. Recommends to the States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to take the lead in such undertakings as will serve the object and propose of this Resolution, as set out above;

　

 3. Requests the States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to see the feasibility of convening a Conference of Parties to facilitate taking such measures as they may consider appropriate under this Resolution, including the establishment of institutional arrangement which will maintain continuing relations with the Conference or Meeting of Parties under the relevant multilateral conventions, particularly those pertaining to environment and development;

　

 4. Requests the United Nations Environment Programme to recommend a plan of work which the Conference or Meeting of Parties under the conventions and protocols conducted under its Regional Seas Programme may carry out in collaboration with the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in regard to the recommendation set forth in paragraph 1 of this Resolution; and

　

 5. Recommends to the Conference or Meeting of Parties under the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matters; the Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, together with that of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer; the Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and Their Disposal; the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, together with that of its Kyoto Protocol; the Convention on Biological Diversity and institutional arrangements of other multilateral conventions whose work has a significant bearing on the concern of this Resolution, to accordingly initiate consultation with the Conference Parties of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on matters that the latter may decide under paragraph 2 of this Resolution;

　

 6. Requests the Secretary-General to prepare a working paper which may be the basis of initial work under this Resolution on the part of the Conference or Meeting of Parties referred to above, outlining the conceptual framework of a unified and comprehensive system of global ocean governance, taking this Resolution as guideline.