Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo presents his credentials to the Secretary General of the International Seabed Authority, Mr. Michael Lodge, at the sidelines of the 32nd Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. (CREDIT:NYPM)
UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK, 14 June 2022 – Ambassador Enrique A. Manalo presented his credentials to the Secretary General of the International Seabed Authority, Mr. Michael Lodge, at the sidelines of the 32nd Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
“With this accreditation, the Philippines reaffirms its firm support to the International Seabed Authority, under the able leadership of Secretary General Lodge, as it fulfills its mandate of organizing and controlling all mineral-resources-related activities in the Area for the benefit of mankind as a whole, while proceeding within the framework of sustainable development,” Ambassador Manalo stated on the occasion of the presentation of credentials.
The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is an international organization established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Through ISA, States Parties to UNCLOS organize and control all mineral-resources-related activities in the international seabed area, or the Area, which covers around 54 per cent of the total area of the world’s oceans.
ISA has the mandate to ensure the effective protection of the marine environment from harmful effects that may arise from deep-seabed related activities. The Area and its resources are the common heritage of mankind.
“We acknowledge the ISA’s role, and the Secretary General’s work, in ensuring development of capacity building measures that meet needs of developing countries like the Philippines. We appreciate ISA’s capacity building activities, particularly the Deep DiplomaSea webinar series and look forward to the launch of Deep Dive, ISA’s E-learning platform,” Ambassador Manalo added.
As the international community commemorates the 40th anniversary of UNCLOS, Ambassador Manalo stressed that his accreditation to ISA, an organization created by the Convention with the critical mandate of ensuring effective protection of environment from effects arising from deep-seabed activities, is testament to the Philippines’s commitment to upholding UNCLOS as constitution of the oceans.
Headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica, ISA became fully operational as an autonomous international organization in June 1996. All States Parties to UNCLOS are also members of ISA. As of 14 June 2022, ISA has 168 members, including 167 member States and the European Union. END
Ambassador Manalo, accompanied by Deputy Assistant Secretary Maria Elena Maningat and First Secretary Azela Arumpac-Marte, and Secretary General Lodge discuss future cooperation on capacity building between the Philippines and the International Seabed Authority. (CREDIT: NYPM)