Fifth and final meeting of the Group of Experts of the "assessment of assessments" of the regular process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects, in conjunction with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 19-20 March 2009 at the WMO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland.

Fourth and final meeting of the Ad Hoc Steering Group for the “assessment of assessments” of the regular process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects, to be held at the Headquarters of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, 15-17 April 2009 in Paris France.

Fourth meeting of the Group of Experts of the "assessment of assessments" of the regular process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects, in conjunction with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), 4-6 November 2008 at the IMO Headquarters, London.

• Report of the Fourth meeting of the Group of Experts of the "assessment of assessments"

Third meeting of the Ad Hoc Steering Group for the “assessment of assessments” of the regular process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects, 19-20 June 2008 at United Nations Headquarters, New York.

• Draft Agenda

Third meeting of the Group of Experts of the "assessment of assessments" for the regular process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment including socioeconomic aspects held 15-17 April 2008, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

• Report of the Third meeting of the Group of Experts of the "assessment of assessments"

Second meeting of the Group of Experts for the Assessment of Assessments of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, 8-10 November 2007 at the Head Quarters of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Paris, France.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IOC of UNESCO), lead agencies for the start-up phase, the “Assessment of Assessments” of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the state of the Marine Environment including socio-economic aspects (UNGA 60/30 REGULAR PROCESS) in line with UNGA resolution 60/30 and 61/222 are organizing the second meeting of the Group of Experts from 8 to 10 November 2007. This meeting will be instrumental in further advancing the programme of work of the Assessment of Assessments as agreed on during the first Group of Expert meeting in March 2007. See meeting documents below:

• Draft Agenda
• Draft Annotated Agenda

• Report of the Second Meeting of the Group of Experts for the start-up phase, Assessment of Assessments

Second meeting of the Ad Hoc Steering Group for the start-up phase, the “Assessment of Assessments” of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment including socio-economic aspects (UNGA 60/30 Regular Process), 22 June 2007 at the Head Quarters of the United Nations, New York.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IOC of UNESCO), lead agencies for the start-up phase, the “Assessment of Assessments” of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the state of the Marine Environment including socio-economic aspects (UNGA 60/30 REGULAR PROCESS) in line with UNGA resolution 60/30 and 61/222 have organized the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Steering Group on 22 June 2007 in New York. See meeting documents below.

• Draft Agenda
• Draft Annotated Agenda
• List of Nominations to the Ad Hoc Steering Group
• Proposed Organisation of Work

• Report of the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Steering Group of the Assessment of Assessments.

First meeting of the Group of Experts for the Assessment of Assessments of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, 28-30 March 2007 at the Head Quarters of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Paris, France.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution A/RES/57/141 and the Heads of States and Governments at the World Summit on Sustainable Development made the call for the establishment of a Regular Process for the global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment including socio-economic aspects.
UNGA through its resolution 60/30, decided to launch the start up phase through an arrangement with the following elements:
a) An Ad Hoc Steering Group to oversee the execution of the “Assessments of Assessments”;

b) Two United Nations agencies, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (IOC of UNESCO) to co-lead the process; and

c) A Group of Experts to carry out the Assessment of Assessments.

The lead agencies UNEP and IOC of UNESCO organised the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Steering Group from 7 to 9 June 2006 (Meeting Report) in New York. On 20 December 2006 UNGA adopted a new resolution 61/222 on Oceans and the Law of the Sea, which included Chapter XII on the Regular Process. The resolution among other things, invited Member States, the Global Environment Facility and other interested parties to contribute financially to the “assessment of assessments”, taking into account the work plan and budget approved by the Ad Hoc Steering Group, in order to complete the “assessment of assessments” within the specified period. With financial support from countries such as Belgium, Canada, Korea, Netherlands and United States the lead agencies have decided to initiate the process with the first meeting of the Group of Experts approved by the Ad Hoc Steering Group from 28 to 30 March 2007 at the Head Quarters of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Paris. See meeting documents below.

• Draft Agenda GRAME/GOE/1/-1
• UNGA 60/30 REGULAR PROCESS- Group of Experts

• Report of the Secretary General to the 59th Session of the General Assembly on the First Global Marine Assessment International Workshop [A/59/126];
• Resolution 59/24 of the General Assembly on Oceans and Law of the Sea.[A/RES/59/24]
• Report of the Secretary General to the 60th Session of the General Assembly on the Second Global Marine Assessment International Workshop [A/60/91];
• Resolution 60/30 of the General Assembly on Oceans and Law of the Sea [A/RES/60/30];
• Report of the First Meeting of the Ad Hoc Steering Group [A/61/GRAME/AHSG/1]
• Resolution 61/222 of the General Assembly on Oceans and Law of the Sea [A/RES/61/L.30]
• Global Marine Assessments: A survey of global and regional assessments and related activities of the marine environment.
  [interactive on-line database tool]    
  

• Report of First meeting of the Group of Experts for the Assessment of Assessments.
  

First meeting of the Ad Hoc Steering Group for the “Assessment of Assessments” of the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment, 7-9 June 2006 at the Head Quarters of the United Nations, New York.

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in the resolution A/RES/60/30 decided that under the guidance of an Ad Hoc Steering Group, UNEP and IOC-UNESCO should take the lead in the production of the “Assessment of Assessments”. Subsequently, the two lead agencies have prepared the background for nominations of the members of the Ad Hoc steering Group and the first meeting took place from 7 to 9 June 2006 in New York. See meeting documents below.

• Annotated Provisional Agenda
• List of Nominations to the Ad Hoc Steering Group

• GRAME/AHSG.1/1/2 Note by the Secretariat - Considerations of Items 4 to 10 of the Annotated Provisional Agenda
• GRAME/AHSG.1/1/3 Note by the Secretariat - Summary of Suggested Decision Elements

• GRAME - AHSG.1/1/3/INF.1/REV.1 Survey on regional and global marine assessments
• GRAME - AHSG.1/1/4/INF.2 Assessments of Assessments and recommendations consultant's report

• Report of First meeting of the Ad Hoc Steering Group for the “Assessment of Assessments”

Second International Workshop on the regular process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment (New York 13-15 June 2005)

During the second International workshop the need to initiate the “Assessment of Assessments” as called for by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 59/24 was reiterated.  The conclusions of the workshop are contained in the report available at the UNDOALOS website. See Workshop report (English version only)

First International Workshop on the regular process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment (New York 7-11 June 2004)

The conclusions of the workshop included a recommendation to the General Assembly to invite the Secretary-General to establish a taskforce to oversee preparatory work for the regular process. The workshop report is available at the UNDOALOS website. See Workshop report (English version only)
                        
Group of experts meeting (New York - 23 to 26 March 2004 )draft document on the establishment of the Regular Process

The advance, unedited version of the draft document can be found on the DOALOS website.
Click on the unedited version of the report on establishment of the Regular Process (English version only).

Planning Meeting on the Development of a UNEP Module the assessment of the Marine Environment, Nairobi, Kenya, 19-21 November 2003

UNEP Governing Council in its decision 22/1 II Global assessment of the state of the marine environment calls the Executive Director of UNEP, in response to UN General Assembly resolution 57/141, to contribute to the Regular Process based on its existing assessment activities. Furthermore, the Council  requested the Director to prepare the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) report series in decision 22/1 Ib Early warning and assessment process of UNEP, and to facilitate consultations on how to address gaps and needs in the current assessment structures in decision 22/1 Ia Strengthening the scientific base of the UNEP. The Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) , therefore, organized a planning meeting on how to address these issues in the area of the marine environment. The objective of the meeting was to identify users’ needs and determine how existing programmes can contribute to the assessment of the state of the marine environment.
The meeting explored the scope and methodology of a possible UNEP module for a Regular Process for assessment of the state of the marine environment at global and regional levels. The meeting mobilized users (e.g. Convention on Biological Diversity, the Global Programme of Action on the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Sources of Pollution (GPA), Regional Seas Programme); scientists participating in the existing assessments (e.g. GEO, Global International Waters Assessment, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, GESAMP); and potential partners (e.g. IOC of UNESCO, FAO, GEF, Large Marine Ecosystem).

See Agenda of the Meeting

Background paper
List of participants
For further details regarding the logistical arrangements – See Info for Participants and Visa Requirement
See the final report of the meeting
Informal Meeting on the Global Assessment
of the State of the Marine Environment 26-27 May 2003

The Hague, the Netherlands

Hosted by the GPA Coordination Office located in the Ministry of Water and Transport of the Netherlands Government In the framework of the implementation of the GC Decision 22/1/II, an informal meeting is planned for the 26-27th May 2003 at the UNEP/GPA Office in The Hague, The Netherlands. The objective of the meeting is to develop scope, methodology, structure, concept issues and further process of the global marine assessment particularly the environment component as UNEP's contribution to the implementation of the UN-wide global marine assessment process. Outcomes of the meeting were to be used during the next United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea UNICPOLOS  held
in New York, 2-6 June 2003, and they were also to assist the scientific expert meeting which was  organized later that year at UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi.

See agenda of the meeting.
For further details regarding the logistical arrangements -
See the Information for the participants
See Considerations Regarding the Development of a Global Marine Assessment, a working document derived from the Hague Meeting and ongoing consultations.

Technical Workshop 18-20 March 2002

Hosted by the Government of Germany
Hotel Munte am Stadtwald, Bremen, Germany

The technical workshop addressed issues in order to provide for the next steps in the establisment of a Regular Process for the global reporting and assessment of the marine environment. And also for  reporting back to the next UNEP Governing Council in February 2003.
45 persons participated and the outcome of the meeting can be viewed here

Meeting held 12-14 September 2001

Hosted by the Government of Iceland, Ministry for the Environment
Hotel Loftleider, Reykjavik, Iceland

The aim of the meeting was to identify needs, define the scope of the feasibility exercise, and explore options for the establishment of a Regular Process for assessment of the state of the environment, in open consultation with appropriate UN and non-UN agencies, government representatives and NGOs. 37 persons participated and the outcome of the meeting can be viewed here
 
For further information contact:
        
       Salif Diop