News

During its meeting held 8-12 July in Kingston, the Commission has selected 8 candidates for its Contractor Training Programmes.

At its meeting on 8 July 2013, the Commission appointed a subgroup from its membership to carry out an initial review and appraisal of the applications and to report back to the full Commission.

In selecting candidates, the Commission considered and applied the relative regulations, as well as the principles, policies, guidelines and procedures applicable to the training programmes.

Ambassador Otunba Olatokunboh Kamson presented his credentials as the new Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the International Seabed Authority on 8 August 2012.

Ambassador Kamson has enjoyed a distringuished career in the public and private sectors in Lagos and arrived in Jamaica early July to take up his responsibilities as the High Commissioner of Nigeria to Jamaica.

He succeeds Ambassador Peter Oyedele who left Jamaica in February this year at the end of his tenure of duty.

KINGSTON, JAMAICA, 8 June 2011 - - Five candidates from ISA member States have been awarded scholarships for Master and Doctorate Degrees under the ISA-Tongji Scholarship Programme at the Tongji University's School of Oceanic and Earth Sciences in China.

The Secretariat presented a review of outstanding issues concerning the draft regulations on prospecting and exploration for polymetallic sulphides in the Area (ISBA/15/C/WP.2). This 25-paragraph working paper, with three annexes, covers additional background on the outstanding issues with respect to the draft, which the Council had agreed to consider at this session. A revised text of the entire draft regulations (ISBA/15/C/WP.1), harmonized in all official languages, and incorporating the revisions, was also presented to Council.

The Council of the International Seabed Authority meeting in Kingston on Thursday (17 July 2014) afternoon decided, on the recommendations of the Finance Committee, that the Assembly approve a budget for the Authority in the amount of US$ 15,743,143 for the biennium 2015-2016.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (6 May 2015) - - The International Seabed Authority and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources of the Federal Republic of Germany (BGR) have signed a 15-year contract for exploration for polymetallic sulphides in the Central Indian Ocean in the presence of Matthias Machnig, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi).

The Contract was signed on 6 May 2015, at Berlin, by the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, Nii Allotey Odunton, and the President of BGR, Professor Hans-Joachim Kümpel. 

JAMAICA, Kingston (14 April 2016) - - His Excellency, Mr. Mohammad Ziauddin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, presented his credentials to Secretary-General Nii Allotey Odunton on 13 April 2016 as the new Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh to the International Seabed Authority.

JAMAICA, Kingston (31 January 2017) - - On 25 January 2017, the Secretary-General of the Authority received an application submitted by the Government of the Republic of Poland for approval of a plan of work for exploration for polymetallic sulphides.

The application area is in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge located between Hayes, Atlantis and Kane transform fault zones and consists of 100 exploration blocks each with an area of 10x10 kilometers.

JAMAICA, Kingston (9 November 2017) - - The Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, today hosted a briefing session for Kingston-based Permanent Representatives to the Authority.

In his brief, Mr Lodge spoke about the Authority’s work in progress following the decisions adopted during the 23rd Session in August.

At the briefing session, the Permanent Representatives were updated on the status of the draft regulations for exploitation for which member States were encouraged to make their submissions before the preferred deadline of 17 November.

JAMAICA, Kingston (27 June 2018) - - The International Seabed Authority and the University of Szczecin are co-hosting a 3-day workshop on the Development of a Framework for Regional Environmental Management Plans (REMPs) for Polymetallic Sulphide Deposits in Mid-Ocean Ridges in Szczecin, Poland from 27-29 June 2018.
 

28 November 2018

Nairobi, Kenya (ISA News) -- The wealth of marine resources in the oceans and seas surrounding the African Continent has the potential to be a key driver for the development of Africa’s Blue Economy but greater investment and capacity building will be critical to advancing the sustainable development of Africa’s deep seabed resources.

The International Seabed Authority received a contribution of US$20,000.00 to its Voluntary Trust Fund from the Government of the People’s Republic of China on 3 July 2013.

ISA Secretary-General, Mr. Nii Allotey Odunton, accepted the donation, which was made on behalf of the Government of the People’s Republic of China by His Excellency Mr. Zheng Qingdian, Permanent Representative to the Authority and Ambassador to Jamaica.  

This is China’s fourth contribution towards the fund bringing the total contributed to the fund to US$80,000.

KINGSTON, JAMAICA, 17 July 2012 - - The Council of the International Seabed Authority, meeting in Kingston, considered a report prepared by the Secretary-General on the status of national legislation relating to the sponsorship, and conduct of activities in the Area.

The Council had requested the report at last year’s session on the basis of the Advisory Opinion, issued by the Seabed Disputes Tribunal on 1 February 2011, which was discussed at the seventeenth session.

KINGSTON JAMAICA, 20 January 2011 - - InterRidge (IR) a non-profit organisation concerned with promoting all aspects of mid-ocean ridge research (their study, use and protection), today called for proposals for its 2011 Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme in partnership with theInternational Seabed Authority Endowment Fund.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) recently announced its capacity-building and training programme on dispute settlement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“The Convention”) for 2009-2010.

The programme which runs from 1 July 2009 to 31 March 2010 will offer places for 5 participants to  participate in lectures on current issues of the law of the sea; case studies and training in negotiation, mediation and delimitation of maritime areas and also include study visits to organizations dealing with law of the sea matters.