54 



shelf, and Part Two dealt with food resources, excluding fish. The Ad 

 Hoc Committee also considered background papers prepared for it 

 by the Secretariat, the IOC, and other U.N. specialized agencies, and 

 the report on marine science and technology. ^^ Its final report reflected 

 emerging conflicts of interest and a heightened awareness of the tech- 

 nical and legal problems associated with exploiting the deep ocean 

 floor. Earlier anxieties over the seabed resources and expectations 

 of early and large returns from the riches of the seabed became tem- 

 pered with realism. 



When the General Assembly convened in the fall of 1968, it re- 

 viewed the Committee report and decided to give the Ad Hoc Com- 

 mittee permanent status. In a series of resolutions, 2467 A-D (XXIII) 

 adopted Dec. 21, 1968, the General Assembly established a standing 

 committee — ^the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Sea-Bed atid 

 the Ocean Floor heyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction^ composed 

 of 42 member states. The Committee was instructed to — 



{a) Study the elaboration of the legal principles and norms 

 which would promote international co-operation in the explora- 

 tion and use of the sea-bed and the ocean floor and the subsoil 

 thereof beyond the limits of national jurisdiction and to ensure 

 the exploitation of their resources for the benefit of mankind, 

 and the economic and other requirements which such a regime 

 should satisfy in order to meet the interests of humanity as a 

 whole ; 



(5) Study the ways and means of promoting the exploitation 

 and use of the resources of this area, and of international co- 

 operation to that end, taking into account the foreseeable de- 

 velopment of technology and the economic implications of such 

 exploitation and bearing in mind the fact that such exploitation 

 should benefit mankind as a whole ; 



(c) Review the studies carried out in the field of exploration 

 and research in this area and aimed at intensifying international 

 co-operation and stimulating the exchange and widest possible 

 dissemination of scientific knowledge on the subject ; 



{d) Examine proposed measures of co-operation to be adopted 

 by the international community in order to prevent the marine 

 pollution which may result from the exploration and exploitation 

 of the resources of this area. 

 The rest of this series of resolutions dealt with each of the requests 

 individually: (B) Prevention of Pollution, (C) Study of Interna- 

 tional Machinery, and (D) Expanded Cooperation and an Interna- 

 tional Decade of Ocean Exploration, respectively. These resolutions 

 had been cosponsored by the United States, and the International 

 Decade of Ocean Exploration was originally proposed by the United 

 States. However, on the question of establishing international ma- 

 chinery to promote exploration and exploitation of seabed resources 

 and their use, the United States considered the Committee proposal 

 premature and therefore abstained. 



Since the establishment of the standing Committee on the Seabed, 

 the United Nations has been actively pursuing ocean affairs in the area 

 of scientific and technological research, disarmament, and the establish- 



™ "Marine Science and Technology : Survey and Proposals." (New York, United Nations, 

 April 24, 1968). (Document UNESC E/4487.) 



