Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
data collected through the International Argo Project contribute to the development of, for
example, sea-level rise projections). The project is intended to operate in a way which
is consistent with UNCLOS. Yet, different interpretations exist with regard to whether it
should be seen as an activity characterized as operational oceanography, not governed by
the UNCLOS provisions related to MSR, or as part of the latter. A central feature of the
Argo Project is that participating states are divided into implementers (i.e. deployers) and
coastal states, whereby the floats belonging to the implementer may operate on the high
seas or the territorial sea or the EEZ of the implementer or any other coastal state, while
coastal states play a passive role by letting the implementer collect data from waters under
their jurisdiction.
Activities falling under operational oceanography are among the most important de-
velopments in oceanography over the last forty years. These programmes are not regulated
byUNCLOSorotherlegalinstrumentsperse,andyettheydemonstratehowstatescancol-
laborate internationally in MSR and how this has evolved since the adoption of UNCLOS.
The competent international organizations in MSR are well positioned to move MSR pro-
grammes forward through international cooperation, and to ensure that developing coun-
tries can participate in them on an equitable basis, through adequate financial support and
technical assistance.
The contribution of international scientific research to a better governance of the
The many human uses of ocean areas and resources, which are perpetuated by mul-
tiple stakeholders at multiple levels, also call for a coherent, nested formal governance
framework for ocean management.
Among the many international legal instruments relevant to the oceans are the
UNCLOS and its implementing agreements, the CBD, the FAO instruments on fishing, rel-
evantprovisionsunderbiodiversity-related conventionsotherthantheCBD,andinrelation
to whaling, the IMO (International Maritime Organization) instruments on shipping, pre-
vention of pollution and contamination, and on the designation of special areas, provisions
related to the preservation of underwater cultural heritage, regional conventions and action
