Uncommon Heritage: Elisabeth Mann Borgese, Pacem in Maribus, the International Ocean Institute and Preparations for UNCLOS III

Abstract

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a landmark of international diplomacy and one of the world’s most important international environmental treaties, was opened for signature in December 1982. This article focuses on the work of Elisabeth Mann Borgese leading up to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), which begain in 1973. Elisabeth began researching ocean governance in 1967, just months before the General Assembly established an ad-hoc committee to study uses of the seabed beyond national jurisdiction. Building partly on this research, she helped initiate the first Pacem in Maribus (PIM) convocation in 1970; regular PIM meetings on contemporary ocean issues continue today, long after the Convention was signed. Elisabeth also helped found the International Ocean Institute (IOI) in 1972, which acquired observer status to UNCLOS III in 1974. Finally, she served as an adviser to the Austrian Delegation to UNCLOS III, led by Ambassador Karl Wolf. This article introduces all three of those roles but focuses primarily on her work preceding the formal start of the UNCLOS III negotiations in 1973. It examines the period 1967-1973, which spans preparations for and eventual convening of the first Pacem in Maribus conference in 1970. Concurrently, diplomatic delegations around the world and the UN Sea-Bed Committee were preparing for the formal start of UNCLOS III. In 1976 and 1977, the First Committee was considering various models for what would become the International Seabed Authority (ISA), including joint ventures, in an attempt to break a deadlock regarding what entities would be entitled to explore and exploit the resources of the seabed beyond national jurisdiction. Because Elisabeth’s interest in the joint venture for ocean resource exploration arose in the 1960s, the present article introduces her early work in this area.