Forty-fourth Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Convention and seventeenth Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Protocol

ADDRESS BY MR ARSENIO DOMINGUEZ, DIRECTOR, MARINE ENVIRONMENT DIVISION,

ON BEHALF OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AT THE OPENING OF

THE FORTY-FOURTH CONSULTATIVE MEETING OF CONTRACTING PARTIES TO THE LONDON CONVENTION & SEVENTEENTH MEETING OF CONTRACTING PARTIES TO THE LONDON PROTOCOL (LC 44/LP 17)

3 October 2022

Excellencies, distinguished delegates and observers,

On behalf of the Secretary-General, it is a pleasure to welcome you all to the Forty-fourth Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Convention and seventeenth Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Protocol.

I am particularly pleased to, finally, welcome you back to the IMO headquarters. This will be your first meeting in person since 2019, and only the second formal IMO meeting since we resumed in-person meetings last month.

This year's meeting is a very special one, as we celebrate fifty years since the adoption of the London Convention. The adoption of the Convention was indeed a major achievement, which along with the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm, constituted the first steps to truly put the environment at centre stage and take responsibility for the harm we had done to the ocean. This week gives us an important opportunity to celebrate and reflect on five decades of achievements in protecting the ocean from marine pollution from dumping of wastes. There will also be more time for in-depth reflection and discussion at the joint IMO-WMU academic conference to be held at WMU next week, titled "Protecting the Ocean - Moving forward at 50: The London Convention and Stockholm Declaration" and you are all invited to follow.

Distinguished delegates,

Your agenda this week is a testament to how the treaty that was adopted five decades ago has evolved and developed, not least through the London Protocol, into a modern and forward-looking global regulatory regime.

Among several important issues, you will consider the proposed amendments to the London Protocol to amend Annex 1 to London Protocol to remove sewage sludge from the list of wastes or other matter that may be considered for dumping. This is a major step, as it recognizes that there are management alternatives for this waste, and that it is no longer justifiable to consider it for dumping at sea.

One important development since the adoption of the Convention in 1972, is your ongoing work under the London Protocol in terms of regulating climate change mitigation technologies. In 2013, you acted swiftly to address the threat to the marine environment from ocean fertilization activities and I am sure that you will do so again with regard to the marine geoengineering techniques being proposed. Discussion on marine geoengineering and carbon capture and sequestration are of the utmost relevance to other fora as well, not least the UNFCCC and its upcoming COP 27.

Items on your agenda are closely related to the many other intergovernmental processes in this 'super year' for the ocean, which started with the agreement at the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in March and will conclude with the adoption of the post-2020 Global Framework for Biodiversity at the CBD COP in December.

As we reflect on the first fifty years of the London Convention and Protocol, we should not lose sight of the wider context in which these treaties operate. Your work has never been more important, and the treaties continue to play a key role in achieving a truly sustainable governance of our ocean alongside other IMO instruments.

Distinguished delegates,

I am very confident that your able Chair, Ms. Betsy Valente of the United States, will steer you confidently through the agenda. Being back to in-person meetings means that you now have more time at hand for discussions on these important topics, and I am sure that this will allow you to make progress and conclude as you require.

Finally, allow me to invite you to attend a short commemorative event at the end of today's session, followed by a reception in the Delegates Lounge, kindly hosted by the Government of the United Kingdom.

With that, I wish you very good luck in your deliberations this week.

Thank you.