Women in the Law of the Sea
Conference 2022

January highlights

 Governance

Save the date for the 27th session of ISA

The 27th session of ISA will take place in-person in Kingston, Jamaica. As per the roadmap endorsed by the members of the Council at its meetings in December 2021, the 27th session of the ISA Council will exceptionally comprise three parts. The first part will include the fourth meeting of the open-ended informal working group on developing a financial and payment mechanism. It will also include the first meetings of the three informal groups established by the ISA Council in February 2020 to discuss i) the protection and preservation of the marine environment, ii) inspection, compliance and enforcement and iii) institutional matters. 

Part I of the 27th session of ISA

• Legal and technical Commission: 14-18 March 2022
• ISA Council: 21 March - 1 April 2022

• Legal and technical Commission: 4-15 July 2022
• Finance Committee: 13-15 July 2021
• ISA Council: 18-29 July 2022
• ISA Assembly: 1-5 August 2022

• ISA Council: 31 October - 11 November 2022

Don't miss the first session of the 2022 Deep-DiplomaSea webinar series for diplomats and UN senior representatives

ISA's contribution to the 2030 Agenda

ISA is committed to support the timely and effective achievement of the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations through the implementation of the economic, social and environmental mandates assigned to it by UNCLOS and the 1994 Agreement. The current and future contributions of ISA to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda are described in an independent report commissioned by the Secretary-General of ISA and released in November 2021. Although all SDGs are of relevance to the work of ISA, the report highlights that as of today ISA contributes to advance 12 of the 17 SDGs.

 Legal regime of the Area

Webinar | Equitable sharing of financial and other economic benefits

UNCLOS establishes the principle that all activities in the Area, including recovery of minerals, must be carried out for the benefit of all humanity, irrespective of the geographic location of States. In pursuance of this principle, UNCLOS requires ISA to provide for the equitable sharing of financial and other economic benefits on a non-discriminatory basis. As the ISA Council advances its work on adopting the necessary regulatory framework that would permit commercial recovery, the ISA Finance Committee, which has the primary responsibility to draft appropriate rules and procedures on equitable sharing, has started to develop proposals for equitable sharing of financial and other economic benefits.
A recent report published by the ISA Secretariat (Technical Study 31) summarises two year of work under the supervision of the Finance committee. Join us for this webinar to find out more.

 Exploration of the Area

Circular Metals Tuvalu Ltd. applies for approval of a plan of work for exploration for polymetallic nodules

On 21 December 2021, Circular Metals Tuvalu Ltd. applied to ISA for the approval of a plan of work for exploration for polymetallic nodules in the Area. Polymetallic nodules contain nickel, copper, cobalt and manganese. The area under application covers 74,460 km² divided into eight blocks in the reserved areas held by ISA in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean.

 Capacity development & training

Three African experts complete deployment programme in ISA Secretariat under the ADSR project

Three African experts completed their two-month deployment in the ISA Secretariat as part of the National Experts Deployment Programme of the Africa Deep Seabed Resources (ADSR) project on 20 December 2021. Mr. Godwin Dimike and Dr. Samuel Popoola from Nigeria and Mr. Gerald Mwila from Zambia joined the ISA Secretariat between October and December 2021.

Meet recently selected ISA trainees

Meet ISA trainees selected by the Legal and Technical Commission in 2021 and who are currently undergoing training or will start their training in 2022.

Opportunities

• Staff Assistant G5 | 10 February 2022
• Consultancy for a desktop analysis of the economic benefits to Jamaica of the presence of the headquarters of ISA in Jamaica | 03 February 2022
• Public Information Intern | 29 April 2022

Publications