Ocean perspectives: legal

- The point of break-through to the world of the next century is along the path of the evolving legal order. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in its interaction with the Conventions, Agreements, and Programmes emanating from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, has set into motion a process of fundamental transformation.

- These new legal instruments should be seen as one single process generating one single dynamic system. Their overlaps should be utilized as common ground for common action, in such a way that they reinforce one another in the process of building a better world for the next century.

- To maintain the dynamism of the system, enabling it to keep adapting in a rapidly changing world, the mandate of the Meetings of States Parties to the Law of the Sea Convention should be broadened, and every second of these meetings (every six years) should be constituted as a Review Conference of this Convention, including Part XI and the Implementation Agreement.

- The concept of sovereignty needs to be harmonized with the requirements of the age of information and sustainable development.

- To enhance peace and cooperation, territorial boundaries in the oceans, whether between states with adjacent or opposite coasts or between states and international areas, should be superseded by more functional joint development or joint management zones, integrating resource management and security management.

- Regional seas should eventually be reconceptualized as multi-functional joint management zones, with comprehensive mandates covering living and non-living resources, transport and communication, science and technology cooperation, coastal management, tourism, the conservation of the environment, and regional security.