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n recent years, the issues of military exercises and intelligence-gathering activities in the EEZ of other countries have also surfaced without clear solutions, with the possibility of tension and potential conflicts between the relevant states. In fact, this has already taken place and created some problems, particularly in the South China Sea.

• In the meantime, various other issues have also come up after the adoption of UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982, such as:
• The problems of aquaculture and fish culture and their impact on the marine environment;
• The increasing activities of bio-prospecting in seeking new resources from the oceans;
• Climate change and the problems of rising sea levels that are increasingly threatening coastal areas, populations and fishery resources;
• The increasing roles and knowledge of the ocean economy as well as its contribution to national development;
• The increasing need of co-management of the oceans, either between central and local governments or between the relevant stakeholders;
• The increasing attempt to define coastal states’ sovereign rights over the continental margin beyond 200 miles from their baselines;
• The increasing need for integrated coastal and ocean management (ICOM);
• The increasing need to understand and to manage large marine ecosystems (LMEs), which in fact could go beyond national boundaries, which should be handled in a wider cooperative engagement;
• The increasing problems of introduced marine pests (IMPs) and marine debris, either because of
the introduction of new marine species into other areas or because of shipping;
• Increasing attention and knowledge with regard to marine biodiversity;
Increasing knowledge and need for research on various ocean and maritime affairs;
• The need to develop various marine protected areas (MPAs) to protect the ocean environment and its sustainability;
• Increasing maritime tourism particularly ecotourism;
• The increasing need for energy, and therefore various attempts to develop and seek new resources, such as the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), geothermal, methane hydrates, energy from currents, tides, waves and various other possibilities;
The increasing number of obsolete installations and structures at sea (the problems of decommissioning and retro-fit) that may affect safety of navigation, particularly if they are already abandoned;
• The increasing number of sub-marine cables and pipelines that need to be taken care of, so that they will not become hazards to the marine environment and safety of navigation;
• The increasing number of non-traditional security issues, such as smuggling, either of goods or people, illegal immigrants, transnational crimes, piracy and armed robbery, illegal fishing, pollution, coastal mining, non-sustainable fisheries, terrorism at sea and many others;
• Finally, the changing and increasing maritime political and military strategic issues, involving certain powers and areas, such as the South China Sea, the West Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Middle East, either resulting from territorial maritime claims and jurisdictions, or from the changing power relations among various states in the world, particularly the consequences of the rise of China and India as well as South East Asia.

Fifty four years since the adoption of the four Geneva Conventions on the Law of the Sea in 1958, 45 years since the adoption of the UN Declaration in 1967 on the “common heritage of mankind” of the ocean resources beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, 30 years after the adoption of the UNCLOS in 1982, and 18 years after its entry into force in 1994, the convention has generally been respected by more than 160 ratifying nations, including practically all ASEAN countries (except Cambodia) and the South China Sea countries (except Taiwan).

Even the minority of states that have not ratified the convention, including the United States, have generally adopted, invoked and applied the provisions of the convention in practice.

In the end, I wish to express my respect, admiration as well as appreciation to those academics, experts, government officials and diplomats, as well as the relevant UN institutions which have been contributing toward the achievement of the UNCLOS 1982, hoping that more states around the world will ratify the convention as well as its implementing agreements, and continue to contribute to its implementation through the various institutions, such as the ISBA, the ITLOS, the CSC and other institutions.

Whatever lacunae that may have been discovered and new issues that have arisen since its adoption in 1982, hopefully they can be solved through states’ practices or through the various institutions that it has created. I am confident that UNCLOS 1982 has contributed very substantially to the development of peace, stability, marine scientific research and the sustainable use of the maritime environment and its resources, and will continue to do so.

The article is based on a paper presented by the author at the 30th anniversary of UNCLOS held at
the Yeosu Exposition, South Korea, on Aug. 12, which was also attended by the UN Secretary-General,
Ban Ki-moon. Prof. Djalal is currently the advisor to the marine affairs and fisheries minister and former president of the International Seabed Authority.