Resolution on the Importance of Habitat Protection and Integrated Coastal Zone Management

Resolution 2001-11
Resolution on the Importance of Habitat Protection and Integrated Coastal Zone
Management
WHEREAS the destruction of coastal habitat may have a detrimental impact upon cetaceans;
RECALLING that the negative effects of habitat destruction upon cetaceans have been repeatedly recognised by the
IWC since 1980, as have the positive actions of a number of Signatories to confront habitat destruction and protect
various cetacean species,
NOTING that Article 193 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that “States have the
sovereign right to exploit their natural resources pursuant to their environmental policies and in accordance with their
duty to protect and preserve the marine environment.”
MINDFUL that the International Whaling Commission with its specific responsibility in the management and
conservation of whale stocks may have a mutual interest in supporting the ratification of international treaties with
overlapping concerns,
NOW THEREFORE THE COMMISSION
Commends Contracting Governments to the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling to pursue the
objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on Wetlands, especially Waterfowl Habitats of
International Importance (RAMSAR), and the Coral Reefs Initiative, to better achieve coastal habitat protection and
integrated coastal zone management as advocated in the implementation decisions of these and similar agreements
and initiatives.