UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

25.2 I now ask the Chairperson of the Legal Committee to present the fifth report of the Committee, which is
on item 6.7, “Revised Statutes of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission”. The related document is
30 C/77. Mr Fernández, would you be so kind as to take the floor.
26.1 M. FERNÁNDEZ (Chili), Président du Comité juridique :
Merci, Madame la Présidente. Le Comité juridique a apporté de légères modifications au texte du projet
de statuts révisés de la COI. Ce texte ainsi modifié figure en annexe au document 30 C/77. La Commission III,
qui s'est penchée sur la substance du texte, a estimé cependant devoir maintenir la version proposée par le
Conseil exécutif de la COI. Le texte figurant en annexe au document 30 C/63 Add. reprend donc mot pour mot,
dans la version française, celui qui figurait dans le document de travail 30 C/58.
26.2 Le texte adopté par la Commission III diffère (dans la version française) de celui qui a été établi par le
Comité juridique sur les deux point suivants : à l'Article 2.1 des statuts, les mots "aux processus marins" n'ont pas
été retenus ; à l'Article 3.2 des statuts, les mots "via le Conseil exécutif" n'ont pas été retenus. Je vous remercie,
Madame la Présidente.…
27. The PRESIDENT:
Thank you Mr Fernández. The situation is similar to that of the last item discussed, namely that the
Legal Committee dealt with technicalities but Commission III dealt with the substance. So again, my suggestion
will be that we deal with this matter when the report of Commission III comes up. But meanwhile the
representative of Tonga has the floor, to be followed by Haiti.
28.1 Mr BLOOMFIELD (Tonga):
Thank you. Madam President, Mr Director-General, Mr Chairperson of the Executive Board, I am
speaking on behalf of the Pacific islands, Focus on the Pacific, and in this statement I represent 14 countries from
the Pacific and two additional countries, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, which have joined the
UNESCO of the Pacific. So the purpose of my intervention is to ask for your indulgence and for you to listen
finally to our plea from the Pacific, which is still at large, not to be found anywhere. We wish to retain the two
words “marine processes” contained in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 2, “Purpose of the Commission”.
28.2 I shall read out the most important facts in paragraph 1: “in order to learn more about the nature and
resources of the ocean and marine processes of coastal areas and to apply that knowledge for the improvement of
management, sustainable development, the protection of the marine environment, and the decision-making
processes of its Member States”. And the relevant part of paragraph 2, Madam President, is the part reading:
“advice and cooperation in the field of scientific research on the oceans and marine processes in coastal areas,
related services and capacity-building”. I refer here to the term “marine processes of coastal areas” in the IOC
Statutes, as proposed by the Executive Board of UNESCO and adopted by the Legal Committee, in document
30 C/77 or document 30 C/LEG/5, Article 2, paragraphs 1 and 2. This term, Madam President, is much better
than the very broad term “coastal areas”, as adopted by the IOC Assembly and proposed by Commission III,
because coastal areas includes coastal lands, human settlements, people, etc., the study in sustainable
development of which requires an interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach. Such a holistic and integrated
approach typically includes inputs from the natural sciences, especially terrestrial sciences, social sciences,
culture, and so on, which oceanographers and marine scientists cannot deliver and have proved to find difficult to
appreciate and connect with. For small island developing States, which consist of coastal areas in their entirety,
the need for an interdisciplinary, intersectoral, holistic and integrated approach is of even more crucial
importance, Madam President. So that is my plea on behalf of 16 countries, Focus on the Pacific and the Pacific
part of Asia, from the largest of all the oceans. Thank you, Madam President.
29. The PRESIDENT:
Thank you, Sir. You need not fear that the plea of 16 countries will be overlooked but I should like to
remind you that we are now dealing with the Legal Committee’s recommendations on its report and that this
matter, Sir, will be considered this afternoon - when Commission III presents its report, which will cover matters
of substance. At this juncture, we are dealing only with technicalities. So what you have just told us should be
repeated this afternoon when Commission III presents its report. However, I do understand your sentiments and
your needs, and that you are speaking on behalf of 16 countries. I now give the floor to the representative of
Haiti, who will be followed by that of Belize.
30.1 M. CHARLES (Haïti) :
Merci, Madame la Présidente. Après l'intervention très intéressante du délégué des Tonga, je n'ai pas
grand-chose à ajouter, sinon que je fais miennes l'ensemble de ses remarques. En effet, la suppression des mots
"aux processus marins" remet en cause les intérêts des zones côtières et de tous les petits Etats insulaires.
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