June 2012: The report on the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole on the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, including Socioeconomic Aspects (Regular Process) has been released. The Group issued recommendations to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), including to adopt the outline for the first global integrated marine assessment of the Regular Process, as well as terms of reference and working methods for the Group of Experts of the Regular Process.

The report was prepared by the meeting co-Chairs, Donatus Keith St. Aimee (Saint Lucia) and Gonçalo da Motta (Portugal). During the meeting, held at UN Headquarters in New York, US, from 23-27 April 2012, the Working Group took note of the report of the bureau of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole, and the summaries of the workshops held under the auspices of the UN in support of the Regular Process in Santiago, Chile (13 -15 September 2011), and Sanya, China (21-23 February 2012).

Particpants heard a presentation from the Director of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS) on the status of the trust fund established to support the operations of the first five-year cycle of the Regular Process. The Working Group also considered the process of preparing the first global integrated marine assessment, and communication requirements and data and information management of the Regular Process. Participants then discussed the development of the website of the Regular Process, and took note of the report on the preliminary inventory of capacity-building for assessments.

On the final day of the meeting, they heard a video presentation by Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), on the UN Secretary-General’s initiative for an oceans compact, describing the scope of the initiative and how it overlaps with the Regular Process.

The report’s annexes include: the outline for the first global integrated marine assessment of the Regular Process; the terms of reference and working methods for the Group of Experts of the Regular Process; and the revised draft timetable for the first global integrated marine assessment of the Regular Process.

The Working Group recommended that its next meeting be convened in 2013. [Publication: Report on the Work of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole on the Regular Process]