on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), provides the legalframework for the conservation and the sustainable use of the oceansand their resources. We stress the importance of the conservation andsustainable use of the oceans and seas and of their resources forsustainable development, including through the contributions topoverty eradication, sustained economic growth, food security,creation of sustainable livelihoods and decent work, while at thesame time protecting biodiversity and the marine environment andaddressing the impacts of climate change. We therefore commit toprotect, and restore, the health, productivity and resilience ofoceans and marine ecosystems, and to maintain their biodiversity,enabling their conservation and sustainable use for present andfuture generations, and to effectively apply an ecosystem approachand the precautionary approach in the management, in accordance withinternational law, of activities impacting on the marine environment,to deliver on all three dimensions of sustainable development.159.We recognize the importance of UNCLOS to advancing sustainabledevelopment and its near universal adoption by States, and in thisregard we urge all its Parties to fully implement their obligationsunder the Convention.160.We recognize the importance of building the capacity of developingcountries to be able to benefit from the conservation and sustainableuse of the oceans and seas and their resources and, in this regard,we emphasize the need for cooperation in marine scientific researchto implement the provisions of UNCLOS and the outcomes of the majorsummits on sustainable development, as well as for the transfer oftechnology, taking into account the Intergovernmental OceanographicCommission (IOC) Guidelines for the transfer of marine technology.161.We support the Regular Process for Global Reporting and Assessment ofthe State of the Marine Environment, including socio-economicaspects, established under the United Nations General Assembly, andlook forward to the completion of its first global integratedassessment of the state of the marine environment by 2014 and itssubsequent consideration by the General Assembly. We encourageconsideration by States of assessment findings at appropriate levels.162.We recognize the importance of the conservation and sustainable useof marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction. We notethe ongoing work under the UN General Assembly of an Ad HocOpen-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to theconservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversitybeyond areas of national jurisdiction. Building on the work of the adhoc working group and before the end of the 69thSession of the United Nations General Assembly we commit to address,on an urgent basis, the issue of the conservation and sustainable useof marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdictionincluding by taking a decision on the development of an internationalinstrument under UNCLOS.163.We note with concern that the health of oceans and marinebiodiversity are negatively affected by marine pollution, includingmarine debris, especially plastic, persistent organic pollutants,heavy metals, and nitrogen-based compounds, from a number of marineand land-based sources, including shipping and land runoff. We committo take action to reduce the incidence and impacts of such pollutionon marine ecosystems, including through the effective implementationof relevant conventions adopted in the framework of the InternationalMaritime Organization (IMO), and the follow up of the relevantinitiatives such as the Global Programme of Action for the Protectionof the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities, as well as theadoption of coordinated strategies to this end. We further