ISA Assembly concludes in-person meetings under the 26th session
 

The 26th session of the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) closed on 14 December 2021 after two days of in-person meetings held in Kingston, Jamaica. Some delegations attended the session virtually. The meetings were chaired by Ambassador Denys Wibaux from France as a President of the Assembly during the 26th session.

In his opening statement, the Secretary-General of ISA, H.E. Mr. Michael Lodge, welcomed all delegations in Kingston and praised the support of ISA members towards the work under development. 

During its meetings, the ISA Assembly elected three members to fill vacancies on the Finance Committee for the remainder of the current term ending on 31 December 2022, namely: Mr. Christopher Hilton (United Kingdom), Dr. Kajal Bhat (India) and Mr. Thiago Poggio Padua (Brazil).

ISA Assembly approved two requests for observer status with ISA submitted by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and OceanCare, bringing the total number of observers with ISA to 94, including 32 non-governmental organizations.

Secretary-General Lodge announced the recipient of the Third Edition of the Secretary-General Award for Excellence in Deep-Sea Research, Dr. Kirsty McQuaid, a marine scientist from South Africa. Dr. McQuaid was recommended for the Award for her work designing networks of marine protected areas around South Africa and using habitat classification to assess the representativity of the network of areas of particular environmental interest in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

Another important item was the presentation by the Secretary-General Lodge of his annual report. Under the general debate, 31 members of the Assembly and five observers delivered a statement.

Secretary-General Lodge also provided the ISA Assembly with an update on the status of implementation of the ISA Action plan in support of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and acknowledged the leadership of Argentina in their role as Champion of ISA for the Action plan.

ISA Assembly further considered reports on the implementation of the Strategic plan and the High-level action plan of ISA for the five-year period 2019–2023 presented by the ISA Council and the Assembly, respectively and invited the members of ISA, observers and ISA organs to continue to support the implementation of the Strategic plan and the High-level action plan.

Finally, the Assembly considered a supplementary report of the Finance Committee and adopted a decision on financial and budgetary matters. In addition, the Assembly took note of a report of the Finance Committee on the development of rules, regulations and procedures on the equitable sharing of financial and other economic benefits derived from activities in the Area.

The 27^th session of the ISA Assembly is scheduled to take place from 1 to 5 August 2022. The Group of Asia-Pacific States will nominate a candidate for the presidency of the session.

Photos of the meetings are available at: https://bit.ly/3yoK3Jv