obtain support from and get the attention of governments. It was necessary to bring
the governments to participate in an organization they had accepted. UNESCO was
ready to provide the required financial resources. From the UNESCO perspective
the main interest was the need for education and training of human resources to do
ocean research and be able to use the results. The lack of human resources had been
identified as one primary reason for the limited development of ocean research. The
need was management and proper utilization of ocean resources and in particular
the marine living resources, although large amounts of non-living resources had
also been found on and in the sea floor, documented through several evaluations and
publications in the 1960s.
The new body was called upon to cooperate with other relevant bodies, in
particular SCOR, but also regional organizations like ICES. It should coordinate
projects already planned by UNESCO in cooperation with SCOR, which was an
advisory body to the IOC from the start. In particular the Indian Ocean investigation
was to become a flagship undertaking through the International Indian Ocean
Expedition project.
In parallel to the process of establishing the IOC, efforts were underway to lay
the foundation for an international law for the ocean, the uses of its resources and
other services. This was triggered by the increasing “terraneization” of ocean space
through offshore extension of the national sovereignty and jurisdiction. In the
beginning the IOC acted within the legal framework of the four Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea of 1958. These covered the continental shelf, the high
seas, the territorial sea, fishing and conservation of the living marine resources of
the high seas, with little attention to marine science or observations. This was not an
integrated approach, and from this perspective the First and Second Law of the Sea
Conferences in 1958 and 1960 were not successful. Another decade was to pass
before the newly independent developing island state Malta brought up the matter
in such a convincing way that the UN General Assembly took action. The development and negotiations for the Third UN Law of the Sea Conference was strongly
pushed by the young developing states. The successful completion, signing in 1982
(UN 1983) and entering into force end of 1994, was very much due to the united,
cooperative efforts of these developing and coming countries. These were not much
involved in the creation of the IOC, but came gradually to understand its importance in the 1970s and 1980s. The negotiations for the Law of the Sea, in which the
IOC participated, played a large role in this process and so did UNESCO. The
scientific community and UNESCO saw the coincidence of the need and the
opportunity of the combined interest of scientific enquiry, development and economy, and acknowledged the role of international cooperation. The Law of the Sea
which entered into force in 1994 provides the legal framework within which the
IOC acts.
Another important non-governmental mechanism for cooperation and dialogue,
research, education and training was also created a decade later based on the idea of
a constitution for the ocean, leading to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,
UNCLOS (UN 1983). The birth of this mechanism was the convening of a series of
workshops and a major international conference in 1970 in Malta, the home of
32 Development of International Cooperation in Oceanography: Incentives from. . .
537
the governments to participate in an organization they had accepted. UNESCO was
ready to provide the required financial resources. From the UNESCO perspective
the main interest was the need for education and training of human resources to do
ocean research and be able to use the results. The lack of human resources had been
identified as one primary reason for the limited development of ocean research. The
need was management and proper utilization of ocean resources and in particular
the marine living resources, although large amounts of non-living resources had
also been found on and in the sea floor, documented through several evaluations and
publications in the 1960s.
The new body was called upon to cooperate with other relevant bodies, in
particular SCOR, but also regional organizations like ICES. It should coordinate
projects already planned by UNESCO in cooperation with SCOR, which was an
advisory body to the IOC from the start. In particular the Indian Ocean investigation
was to become a flagship undertaking through the International Indian Ocean
Expedition project.
In parallel to the process of establishing the IOC, efforts were underway to lay
the foundation for an international law for the ocean, the uses of its resources and
other services. This was triggered by the increasing “terraneization” of ocean space
through offshore extension of the national sovereignty and jurisdiction. In the
beginning the IOC acted within the legal framework of the four Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea of 1958. These covered the continental shelf, the high
seas, the territorial sea, fishing and conservation of the living marine resources of
the high seas, with little attention to marine science or observations. This was not an
integrated approach, and from this perspective the First and Second Law of the Sea
Conferences in 1958 and 1960 were not successful. Another decade was to pass
before the newly independent developing island state Malta brought up the matter
in such a convincing way that the UN General Assembly took action. The development and negotiations for the Third UN Law of the Sea Conference was strongly
pushed by the young developing states. The successful completion, signing in 1982
(UN 1983) and entering into force end of 1994, was very much due to the united,
cooperative efforts of these developing and coming countries. These were not much
involved in the creation of the IOC, but came gradually to understand its importance in the 1970s and 1980s. The negotiations for the Law of the Sea, in which the
IOC participated, played a large role in this process and so did UNESCO. The
scientific community and UNESCO saw the coincidence of the need and the
opportunity of the combined interest of scientific enquiry, development and economy, and acknowledged the role of international cooperation. The Law of the Sea
which entered into force in 1994 provides the legal framework within which the
IOC acts.
Another important non-governmental mechanism for cooperation and dialogue,
research, education and training was also created a decade later based on the idea of
a constitution for the ocean, leading to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,
UNCLOS (UN 1983). The birth of this mechanism was the convening of a series of
workshops and a major international conference in 1970 in Malta, the home of
32 Development of International Cooperation in Oceanography: Incentives from. . .
537