Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and IOC sponsor a Joint lOC/lHO 

 Guiding Committee for the General Bathjmietric Chart of the Oceans 

 (GEBCO), which includes a Subcommittee on Geographical Names and 

 Nomenclature of Ocean Bottom Features, which participates in the 

 Conference on the standardization of maritime and undersea features 

 names. In addition, the U.N. has many councils, committees, and 

 specialized and affiliated agencies that have interests in the marine 

 sciences. These are described in entries 2 through 15. 



2. U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY: UNGA 



Representatives of U.N. member nations compose the General Assem- 

 bly, which meets in regular annual sessions and may hold special 

 sessions when necessary. UNGA concerns itself with any matter fall- 

 ing within the scope of the U.N. charter and may make recommendations 

 on all issues except those on the agenda of the Security Council. 



UNGA' s immediate interests in marine affairs generally relate to 

 legal and jurisdictional problems concerning the use of the seabed 

 beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. In 1967 it established 

 an Ad Hoc Committee to Study the Uses of the Sea-Bed and the Ocean 

 Floor Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction. By resolution of 

 UNGA in 1968, the Ad Hoc Committee was made a standing committee and 

 renamed the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Sea-Bed and the 

 Ocean Floor Beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction. Commonly 

 known as the U.N. Seabed Committee, its major activity is the prepar- 

 ation for and convening of the Law of the Sea Conferences (LOSC) , 

 also called the U.N. Conferences on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) , the 

 third of which opened in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1974. An Informal 

 Single Negotiating Text (ISNT) was developed at the third session in 

 1975. It was superseded in 1976 by a Revised Single Negotiating 

 Text (RSNT), which in turn was superseded in 1977 by an Informal 

 Composite Negotiating Text (ICNT). One of the measures considered 

 at this Conference was the U.N. proposal for an International Seabed 

 Resource Authority (ISRA) for the orderly management and fair-sharing 

 of seabed resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. 



3. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL OF THE UNITED NATIONS: ECOSOC 

 Under the authority of the General Assembly, ECOSOC is responsi- 

 ble for the initiation and development of U.N. economic and social 

 programs. It receives and reviews the programs proposed by the Ad- 

 visory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology to 

 Development (ACAST). It is also responsible for the United Nations 

 Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Children's Fund 

 (UNICEF) , the United Nations Institute for Training and Research 

 (UNITAR), and the several U.N. regional economic commissions. 



4. ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE ON COORDINATION: ACC 



Executive heads of the many U.N. organizations compose ACC. Its 

 functions include the proposing of programs to be sponsored by U.N. 

 or its organizations, including programs in the marine sciences and 

 those in the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). A recently 

 abolished Subcommittee on Marine Science and Its Applications had 

 cognizance over marine science activities. 



5. ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND 



TECHNOLOGY TO DEVELOPMENT: ACAST 



ACAST is the central body in the U.N. system charged with the 

 entire range of the application of sciencie and technology in the 

 development stage. Scientific and technological programs and projects 



