Gordon, J.K.

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---ato: Dr. David HopperPresidentInternational Development Research CentreFrom: King GordonSubject: Pacem in Maribus III, MALTA, June 27-July 4Pacem in Maribus -- an obvious wordplay on PopeJohn's and St. Luke's Pacem in Terris -- is the name given toa series of conferences of the oceans held in Malta. It isalso the name given to the loose organization sponsoring theseconferences and laying out areas of research covering a widerange of problems associated with the seas. The conferenceand the organization halve two poles: Santa Barbara, California,and the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions andMalta, whose government has given a strong lead through theUnited Nations to initiate international legislation.and actionto regulate the exploitation of the sea bed, ocean pollution,and the conservation of the seas' living resources. Withinthe past year these two poles have tended to merge in the newInternational Ocean Institute in Malta, which is a creation ofPacem in Earibus an(1 the Government of Malta, and is receivingsome support from the UNDP.It is perhaps useful at the start to zet behind theinstitutional front to the individuals who have provided theideas and dynamic out of which this interestinfr roverrent hasarisen. The two most ir-ortant are r.rwid Pardo, thP "r7-1teFePlcndpoteniary for te Ccehns, WbG YaS responsible2for raising the issue in the United Nations and initiating theestablishment of the Commission for the Seabed; and ElisabethMann Borghese of the Santa Barbara Centre who has providedthe single-minded drive behind the enterprise and has beenresponsible for raising much of the financial support. Alongwith Mrs. Borghese one should mention Dr. Norton Ginsberg, adistinguished geographer, on leave from Chicago and now atSanta Barbara and Lord Ritchie Calder of Great Britain, aremarkable popular scientist who, through his writings andwork with governmental and international bodies, has donemuch to create an awareness of the critical problems that callfor concerted international action. Around this small corethere has converged á fairly imposing assemblage of scientists,economists, international lawyers, practical engineers, varioustypes of marine specialist, military strategists, diplomats,and informed laymen. The organization is in close contacta) with the specialized institutes concerned with oceanographyand marine biology, and b) with national and internationalagencies concerned with problems of the oceans.Pacem in ;Ia_ribus III, showed some of the positiveresults of three years of hard work. It also showed some ofthe wear and tear of prolonged effort: some of the participantsthought that it lacked the zest cf earlier conferences, arehashing of tired and familiar themes. This latter is not anuncommon layman's reaction: the rreat ideas are rlltterimqand challencinr; their implementation is ant to be blood:7 hardano humdrum work. There is some reason for satisfaction that3in considering the conservation, rational utilization andregulation of the oceans we are beginning to encounter thesedetailed and niggling problems. The value of Paoem in Maribusshould be judged by the extent to which a broad-gauge non-governmental effort can act as a catalyst for specific actionsand procedures of control and regulation by specialized non-governmental, governmental, and intergovernmental bodies.The most obvious example is the Mediterranean itself.There is no doubt that Malta's initiative arose directly fromits Mediterranean setting and from the fact that its veryexistence depended on the preservation of its maritime environment.From the beginning of Pacem in Maribus, therefore, there hasbeen a sharp focus on the Mediterranean. There has, in fact,been a parallel series of conferences under PIM sponsorshipdevoted specifically to the Mediterranean, the latest held inApril of this year at Split, Yugoslavia. (Annex I) It is inthe study projects carried out in these conferences that definiteprogress is revealed. Not only have special problems in thearea of marine biology, industrialization, tourism, pollution,military utilization been isolated and defined with incrasingclarity but the Fediterranean is beginning to be viewed as amodel for constructive, concerted and co-operative action byits 17 riparian states. In a talk I had with Dr. Pardo hemade it clear that he considered the procress in the study ofthe Eediterranean the most important contribution of Pacen inEaribus. Eut what really brought him to this conclusion wasthe fact that, immediately following the Pacem in ;:aritusJconference, an intergovernmental conference of 14 out of the 17Mediterranean states would take place in Malta. The objectof this conference was twofold: a) to establish, as the LatinAmericans had established, a common front for their representativesat the Conference of the Seabed Commission and the likely law ofthe Sea Conference in 1973 and b) to take the first constructivesteps in the direction of an intergovernmental authority forthe Mediterranean.Pardo, incidentally, is under no illusions about thedifficulties in achieving a degree of consensus among Mediterraneanstates of widely differing political philosophies and conflictingnational interests as well as extra regional interests andattachments that place them in opposing camps. After reviewingthese and other factors in conflict, the Working Group on theMeCliterranean (Annex I a) examined some seven major points ofconsensus that included the need for the systematic gatheringand storage of data concerning the region as an ecosystem andas a socioeconomic regional system; the need for an environmentalwarning system; the need for immediate attention to the pollutjonproblem; the need for integrated programs of soil, air, waterand forest management; the need for harmonizing key nationaleconomic policies; and the need for planning for regional dedevelopment and environmental conservation.Linked closely but by no means exclusively to thefocus on the 1,:editerranean is the new International OceanInstitute. The purposes of this new Institute, which isattached to the Royal University of Maïta, are examined in some5detail in the statement made by Dr. Sydney Holt, its interimdirector, a transcript of which is attached to this report asAnnex II. Dr. Holt made it clear that the Institute was nota scientific research organization: its purpose is "to promoteresearch on the peaceful uses of ocean space and its resources,including the regulation of such uses." The Institute will,however, work with scientific oceanographic and biologicalInstitutes since the data they provide are relevant to rationalregulation and utilization of ocean space and to the eventualcreation of an international ocean authority. The Institutewill act as a clearing house of information, will sponsorpublications, grant fellowships, promote seminars and conferencesall aimed at cultivating wider and more effective interest inthe maintenance and rational utilization of man's commonheritage in the oceans. Its location in Malta will naturallytend to direct its attention to the sea that surrounds it:but it will have global interest in all measures pointingtowards the development of an international ocean regime.One very obvious result of the establishment of theInternational Ccean Institute is that it will tend to sp-msoras part of its regular programme the kinds of activities andprojects formerly sponsored by Pacem in Farjbus. WhereasPacem in Earibus represents an ad hoc enterprise of a widelydisparate group of people operating out from a couple of Centres,the International Ocean Institute is a single functional institu-tion which at present is receivinz7 UNIJF sumport and is seekinEnon-governmental support for launching out into a broader6programme in keeping with its declared purposes.It is interesting to note that one of the regionalconferences the Institute is considering sponsoring withinthe next year, with the support of the Government of Mexico,is to be focussed on the Caribbean as an ocean area holdingpossibilities for concerted and co-operative action in somemeasure along the lines of the Mediterranean model. In sucha project, if it develops -- and a preliminary conference isplanned for Mexico this autumn -- Canada should have a specialinterest.The thi-rd most important achievement of the Conference,in my opinion, came out of the Working Group on a Constitutionfor the Oceans. (Annex III) The paper which emerged hardlydoes justice to the discussions or to the serious input inpapers prepared for the plenary sessions. Arvid Pardo andElisabeth Borghese were joint chairmen of this working group.There were also several good international lawyers includingLouis B. Sohn of the Harvard Law School. A central conceptthat has been emerging, which to some extent seems to besuperceding the concepts of territorial waters and the highseas, is "the concept of the oceans as the common heritageof mankind." Closely linked with this concept is therequirement of "an international authority to regulate theexercice of freedom in ocean space as a whole."It is worth remarking that in these ciscussions,reference was frequently made to Carad-I's stand on a numberof constitutional points, e.g. the radical stand on the extended7limits of pollution control in the Artie, the stands on theconversation of marine life taken by Jack Davis at Stockholm,and the main position taken by Canada at the PreparatoryCommittee for the Law of the Seas Conference in 1973. AlanBeesley had attended a previous Pacem in Maribus Conferenceand was remembered.It was the belief fairly well substantiated of anumber at the Conference, that the development of conceptsassociated with new environmental problems and pointingtowards the need for the creation of an ocean regime had adefinite effect on the intergovernmental discussions in theCommission on the Seabed and the Preparatory Committee on theLaw of the Sea Conference. This is an area in which RitchieCalder's remark that Pacem in Haribus must keep about threeyears ahead of governments" is perhaps relevant. Certainly,there seems to be an advantage in elaborating new principlesof international law in a non-governmental context free fromthe constant intrusion of national interests and politicalconsiderations.These, then, to my mind were the three most importantareas in which Pacem in 1,:aribus III made a definite contrib,Ition:The Development of the ljediterranean Reion, the InternationalOcean Institute, and Constitutional Issues relating to OceanSpace including the Seabed.There were several other areas explored, a numlier ofwhich ;cre considered imnortant b y many conference members.Probably the one which roused major interest was the study8project on an ocean tax to finance the establishment of aninternational ocean authority. The preliminary work had beendone by a group of three Cambridge economist-, under a Mr.Eatwell. It became evident that what was being proposed wasnot a proper Tax but rather an intricately weighted system ofdetermining a just basis for contributions related to a state'sutilization of the sea. The presentation received a lot ofcriticism, it seemed to discriminate against states whichrelied heavily on fishing, and hardly seemed likely to gainmuch support if put forward in an international forum.The Canadian proposal to tax minerals extracted fromthe seabed is simpler and, to my mind makes much more sense.(The Eatwell proposal includes fishing whether within or outsideof territorial waters.) The Canadian proposal can be comparedwith royalties paid for extraction of minerals within adomestic regime: the very name royalty implies the existenceof a regime, which in the case of the seabed would be aninternational regime. Oddly enough, the royalty suggestioncame up in the proposal by an engineer, Dr. LaQue, concerninglicensing the collection of manganese nodules from the seabed.It is of some historic interest that the concept of an ocea-tax was presented some twenty years ago in a research paperprepared in New York by Dr. John Fried: in this presentationthe tax on seabed minerals was to finance the entire UNoperations, including the support of international development.Discussion also took -lace on Disarmament of theOceans (Annex 4); the Develop&cnt of the Economic Resources cf9the Ocean (Annex 5): here there was a far-out paper, severelyattacked by the physicists and engineers on the utopian effectsof fusion, using sea water as a base; and th7? creation of anInternational Sea Service which would combine floating laboratoryfacilities with devices for monitoring pollution (Annex 6).ConclusionIn a whole new area of environmental concern, Pacem inMaribus has done and is doing useful pioneering work. Therewas some serious consideration given to calling a halt to thePacem in Maribus conferences as such and perhaps focussing oncertain regional or topical problems, possibly closely linkedwith the work of the International Ocean Institute. Thisopinion was not shared by others, including Elisabeth MannBorghese, who thought that the momentum achieved by PIM had tobe maintained. So it looks as if there will be another Pacemin Maribus conference in 1973.Of all projects associated with Pacem in n_ribus Ifeel that the International Ocean Institute is the most promising.It is still finding its feet. If badly needs the additionalfinancing reauired to launch it on a broadly constructiveprogramme. But as a UNDP-supported institution with complementarysupport from the Government of Malta it will continue. It maywell be that it will develop certain areas of specializationthat are of interest to IDRC and come within its is'ane ofpriorities.10To my great surprise, since I had taken little orno active part in the deliberations of the Conference, I wascasually informed at the Malta airport by Elisabeth Borghesethat I had been appointed to the Planning Council of theInternational Ocean Institute. You may wish, therefore, todiscount my mild enthusiasm for this institution, or else relyon me for additional information on how it is going and whatare its prospects as well as its needs.Finally, let me thank you for giving me the opportunityfor attending this conference. The bulk of the papers of theconference are on their way here by slow boat. I have askedMrs. Borghese to make available to the IDRC library a seriesof publications put out already by Pacem in Maribus and shallsee that they get to you when they arrive.

Pacem in Maribus III, Malta, June 27-July 4

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Pacem in Maribus III, Malta, June 27-July 4

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