ICS chairman praises IMO

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  • ICS chairman, Masamichi Morooka praised the International Maritime Organisation in his speech at the World Ocean Summit.

ICS chairman, Masamichi Morooka praised the efficiency of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) at the World Ocean Summit amidst plans to establish a separate environmental body.

The event, held in San Francisco organised by The Economist magazine consisted of a keynote speech by US secretary of state, John Kerry, and a video presentation by HRH Prince Charles.

Masamichi Morooka addressed delegates in response to the opinion that the UN might establish a ‘World Ocean Organization’ to tackle issues in regards to the environmental wellbeing of the ocean outside of shipping, such as fishing and ocean acidification.

Morooka suggested that a model for a new agency already exists in the form of the London-based IMO which functions within the framework provided by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

He remarked that whilst the IMO may be one of the smallest UN agencies with commensurately modest costs, it regulates the global shipping industry effectively through a wide range of Diplomatic Conventions that are genuinely enforced worldwide.

“The IMO MARPOL Convention on pollution prevention has contributed significantly to the dramatic reduction in oil pollution from ships despite massive growth in maritime trade,” declared Morooka.

“MARPOL also addresses sulphur emissions and the reduction of CO2 from global shipping, the only global deal on CO2 emissions of its kind developed for a whole industrial sector. This will reduce CO2 from ships by 20 percent by 2020 with further reductions going forward.”

With support for a new body for ocean governance that would work along the IMO in high supply at the summit, ICS believes this would be best delivered without a radical overhaul of UNCLOS, with its carefully agreed balance between the rights of nations.
 

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