Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

With regard to the name of the organization, Mr. Simpson said that
perhaps the use of “Geosciences” was dated. He said that the organization
SOPAC had expanded its activities beyond the application of Geosciences in
its work to the management of sustainable development. In relation to
SOPAC’s mission statement, he said that in future there might be a need to
reflect this transformation. He described the membership as small island
states with limited capacities in marine geosciences (geology, geophysics etc)
with very large marine jurisdictions, bigger than the United States for
example. He said that the raison d’etre of SOPAC was to pool resources. Mr.
Simpson said that SOPAC has a Governing Council that meets on annual
basis in different countries of the region. He said that in the absence of
scientifically qualified personnel in member countries, the constitution of
SOPAC requires a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to drive the work
programme. Mr. Simpson said that with the assistance of the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), a science and
technology resource network feeds into the TAG. He said that members of
this network attend meetings and comment on the proposed work
programme to ensure that it addresses inputs of relevance to the needs of the
region. He said that the work of SOPAC comprises two elements:
coordinating and promoting work that takes place in two or more countries,
and the second in national programmes. In this absence of capacities to
undertake research, Mr. Simpson pointed out that the need for promoting and
coordinating marine scientific research in the region became paramount. He
said that SOPAC’s work is fundamental in this regard. He said that LOS
Convention obligations play a crucial role in this regard, and that SOPAC has
become a vehicle for implementing some of these obligations. He also said
that SOPAC has developed strong links with the ISA and IOC, as well as with
a number of marine scientific researching institutions. He mentioned that the
Agreement between Japan and the countries of the region for cooperation in
marine scientific research in the deep-sea environment since 1985 had been
amongst the most successful.
Mr. Simpson informed participants of some of the results of marine
scientific research in the region, including discoveries of polymetallic nodules
and seafloor massive sulphides, and said that efforts are currently being made
to orient SOPAC’s work to exploration for these mineral resources. He
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 914