International Ocean Institute Training Programme

B. Mobilizing financial resources
UNEP(OCA)/LBA/IG.2/7
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50. Alongside the mobilization of experience and expertise, the mobilization of financial resources
is the other indispensable foundation for the development and implementation of national and
regional programmes for the protection of the marine environment from land-based activities. It is
recognized that the development of national and regional action programmes are of primary
international importance.
51. While States recognize that, in general, the financing for the implementation of the national
and regional programmes of action that will embody this Global Programme of Action should come
from each country's own public and private sectors, they reaffirm:
(a) Their conclusion that international cooperation for sustainable development should be
strengthened in order to support and complement the efforts of countries in need of assistance;
(b) Their acknowledgement that, for countries in need of assistance, substantial new and
additional funding will be required for the actions flowing from Agenda 21;
(c) Their commitment that such funding should be provided in a way that maximizes the
availability of new and additional resources and uses all available funding sources and
mechanisms,as set out in paragraph 17.23 and, more generally, in chapter 33 of Agenda 21.
52. There is increasing realization worldwide of the need for action to protect the world's marine
environment, described in the opening paragraphs of this Programme. Equally, it is increasingly
realized that land-based activities are the predominant source of adverse impacts on the marine
environment. This realization should lead to a correspondingly greater political emphasis, at
national, regional and global levels, on the need to ensure the mobilization of the necessary funding
for the action needed within the framework of integrated management of coastal zones and, where
appropriate, associated watersheds. This in turn should be translated into an increased willingness
by partners for international development cooperation to provide financing, including on
concessionary and preferential terms, for projects aimed at fulfilling the objectives of this
Programme of Action.
1. Scale of funding required
53. There are major differences among the different regions of the world, and the States which
they comprise, in terms of geography, physiography, and ecology and, above all, in economic and
social conditions, level of development and regional cooperation. In many cases, as well, the
impacts on the marine environment of various contaminants and forms of physical disturbance will
have different degrees of importance. All these variations will lead to different judgments on the
appropriate priorities to be given to tackling the different problems mentioned in chapters II and III
above. Each State will therefore develop its own appropriate set of priorities for the tasks that it
decides to undertake to protect the marine environment, and these priorities will be reflected in the
composition and scale of its national programme of action and any regional programme in which it
participates.
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