Summary
On Monday, the first part of the 26th session of the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) opened in Kingston, Jamaica. After a halting start, Council members elected Taaniela Kula, Tonga, as President of ISA-26, before delving into discussions on key issues. The big discussion of the day centered around the composition and size of the Authority’s Legal and Technical Commission (LTC), an issue that has been controversial in the past. In plenary and in informal deliberations, views diverged on the role and importance of geographical representation vis-à-vis expertise, with many noting the need to balance the two. Others stressed that regional balance engenders trust and that the LTC should remain a body in which parties have confidence. Discussions on this issue will continue later in the week.Highlights of the day included:
- the election of the ISA-26 bureau, comprising Nigeria, for the African Group; the Russian Federation, for the Eastern European Group; Jamaica, for the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC); and Canada, for the Western Europe and Others Group;
- formal and informal discussions relating to two proposals on the composition and size of the ISA’s LTC;
- the election of Carsten Rühlemann (Germany) to fill a vacancy on the LTC;
- comments on the implementation of the Council decision on the reports of the LTC Chair; and
- a report on the recently concluded meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group addressing the financial model related to the sharing of benefits of the exploitation of the Area.
At lunchtime, a side event was organized by Office of Environmental Management and Mineral Resources (OEMMR) of the ISA on the results of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and Evora Workshops related to the review and development of Regional Environmental Management Plans in the Area.For more details on the day’s events and to learn what delegates said in the breezeways, see our daily Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB).
IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB Meeting Coverage, provided daily web coverage and daily reports from the 1st Part of ISA-26. In addition, IISD Reporting Services has publish a summary and analysis report in HTML and PDF.
Photos by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera
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Around the Venue
