The World Assembly,
Noting the importance of a healthy marine environment in maintaining biodiversity, enabling sustainable fishing and other commercial activities, and ensuring that people are fully able to enjoy recreational and cultural activities,
Applauding the commitment of this august body to the preservation of environmental health, including the integrity of marine environments,
Lamenting the lack of existing World Assembly resolutions designed to address destructive practices in essential marine environments, including unsustainable harvesting of marine organisms, heavy tourist traffic, waste dumping, and industrial activities, and
Wishing to remedy this deficiency by establishing an international framework for the protection of marine environments, hereby:
- Defines "regulations" as reasonable restrictions on any of the following, for the purposes of this resolution:
- the types and scale of fishing and other harvesting of marine organisms;
- the dumping of waste;
- access to tourists and the activities tourists may undertake; or
- industrial activities, such as oil drilling and refinement;
- Establishes the Committee for the Preservation of Marine Environments (CPME) to oversee the protection of critical marine environments in international waters, with the following responsibilities:
- identifying areas within international waters which would benefit from sanctuary designation due to said areas meeting any of the following conditions:
- being critical to the survival and growth of a species due to serving as a major spawning, breeding, or feeding area;
- serving as a habitat containing an exceptional level of biodiversity; or
- containing a notable shipwreck or other site of high cultural or historical significance;
- designating such areas as sanctuaries, and implementing and maintaining regulations in said areas to further the purpose for which said sanctuaries were designated;
- compiling and maintaining a comprehensive report on the state and health of the marine environment within each sanctuary as applicable to the purpose for which that sanctuary was designated, to be available upon request to any member nation; and
- ensuring that member nations are appraised of the regulations enacted within a sanctuary should they desire that information;
- Clarifies that any regulations implemented under this resolution must comply with other World Assembly resolutions;
- Permits member nations to petition the CPME to remove sanctuary designation from an area or modify regulations implemented pursuant to this resolution in that area, which the CPME shall thoroughly review before making a decision on the matter;
- Mandates that member nations implement regulations within areas of their territorial waters meeting the conditions outlined in section 2a of this resolution, to the extent reasonable and effective in those areas;
- Urges member nations to take further measures to protect marine environments within their territories; and
- Encourages member nations to finance the implementation of measures pursuant to this resolution through financial penalties on industrial practices harmful to environmental health.
