Co-Chairs of the Third Meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole,
Distinguished delegates,
Distinguished Members of the Group of Experts,
Representatives of International Organizations and other observers,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

Allow me, at the outset, to congratulate Ambassador Donatus St. Aimée and Mr. Gonçalo Motta on their appointment as Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group. We trust on your able leadership for the work we have ahead of us

We would like to thank the Group of Experts for their efforts to produce comprehensive and detailed documents, amended with some suggestions for this Working Group. We are also grateful to the Division on Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea of the United Nations (DOALOS) for its very hard work as the Secretariat of this process.

Co-Chairs,

The G77 and China has engaged in earnest in the design and establishment of the Regular Process for the global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment including its socioeconomic aspects.

The G77 and China remains concerned about certain suggestions made by the experts which are not germane to the framework and guiding principles of the Regular Process, in particular its intergovernmental character and the full participation of developing countries. Without clarity on how the first integrated assessment is going to be financed, some of the suggestions of the experts remain difficult to explore.

Co-Chairs,

We remain convinced that the level of ambition for the scope of the first integrated assessment must be commensurate with the resources available in the trust fund of the Regular Process. We kindly request the Secretariat to inform us about its current state.

We continue to support all efforts of the Secretary-General to promptly mobilize all available resources to further strengthen the capacity of DOALOS, in particular its human resources, to enable it to continue to provide us with the current quality of work of the Secretariat of the Regular Process.

Co-Chairs,

The Group upholds the principles of inclusiveness and transparency already adopted by the General Assembly, because we are convinced they will ensure the relevance, legitimacy and credibility of the Regular Process and that all stakeholders accept their products as authoritative.

According to the recommendations adopted in the 65th General Assembly (A/65/358), the Regular Process, as established under the United Nations, would be accountable to the General Assembly. In order to avoid duplication, it should encourage synergies with existing processes at the regional and global levels.

Moreover, the Regular Process should be based on priorities established by the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole of the General Assembly, taking into account Governments' needs and requests.

The GoE sustains that assessments should reflect responses or measures. We kindly request the experts to clarify what is meant by the term and what the exercise would imply since, in the view of the Group, the main goal of the first integrated assessment should be to establish the baselines from which future assessments could build on.

The Group reiterates its view that the outputs should be policy-neutral, and assess the existing basic knowledge, identify knowledge gaps, identify capacity building needs and contribute to capacity building and the transfer of technology.

Co-Chairs,

In its previous comments, the Group requested the GoE to clarify how, in view of the findings of the Group of Experts of the AOA, each of the three proposed approaches ((a) Human activities affecting the marine environment; (b) Habitats; and (c) Ecosystem services provided by the marine environment) is justified, especially taking into account that the integrated assessment should build on existing assessments. The revised document, however, maintains that the three initially identified approaches must be retained. We do need a way forward in view of the paucity of resources.

Furthermore, other global assessment processes (for example GESAMP comments included in the Assessment of Assessments) have identified some factors including technical and financial ones which preclude or slow down improvements in the quality, relevance and reliability of global assessments. Technical and financial aspects have a clear connection with the identification of capacity-building gaps as the first phase of the integrated assessment (which is to be addressed at the workshops).

Co-Chairs,

The Regular Process is also instrumental to national capacity building. The enhancement of each country's capacity and applying methodologies for environmental assessment and monitoring would guarantee coherent and reliable inputs and strengthen the Process' possibility of building a network of scientific activity, which is one of its fundamental building blocks. Being an integral part of the Regular Process, capacity building and the transfer of technology should be effectively addressed.
Finally, Co-Chairs, the Group has a suggestion: it has come to our knowledge that the High Level Committee on Programmes of the Chief Executives Board of the United Nations has initiated a process for the launching of a UN Oceans Compact by the C.E.B. It would be extremely useful if the Group could at some point be briefed on the initiative so as to have a clear idea of the scope of the initiative and how it overlaps with the Regular Process.

Thank you.