|
||||||
| Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia | ||||||
|
Link to text
of agreement
Status of agreement
| Basic information |
| Date of adoption |
14 July 2000 |
| Place of adoption | Kuantan, Malaysia |
| Entry into force | n/a |
| Authentic text(s) | Arabic, English, French |
| Associated instruments | Convention on Migratory Species |
| Summary of instrument |
The
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia was adopted in July 2000, and is the second such MOU to be concluded under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species. The MOU itself was developed through a series of meetings and consultations, most notably in Perth, Australia in October 1999 and in Kuantan, Malaysia in July 2000 when the MOU was formally adopted. The MOU was further developed at an additional session in Manila, Philippines in June 2001, when the Conservation and Management Plan - the part of the MOU containing the substantive measures to be implemented - was finalized and adopted. The objective of the MOU is to establish a framework through which States can conserve and replenish depleted marine turtle populations and manage the wide range of threats to marine turtles, including habitat destruction, direct harvesting and trade, fisheries by-catch, pollution and other man-induced sources of mortality. The Memorandum recognizes the need to address these problems in the context of the socio-economic development of the States concerned, and to take account of other relevant instruments and organizations.The detailed measures the signatories to the MOU undertake to implement are set out in the Conservation and Management Plan. This Plan, which was revised at the 2nd Meeting of the Signatories to the MOU in 2004, contains 24 general programme areas, in relation to which more than 100 specific actions are described, which are placed within six general objectives:
1. the reduction of direct and indirect causes of
marine turtle mortality;
2. the protection, conservation and rehabilitation of marine turtle habitats;
3. improving the understanding of marine
turtle ecology and populations through research, monitoring and information
exchange;
4. increasing public awareness of the threats to marine turtles and their
habitats, and enhance public participation in conservation activities;
5. enhancing national, regional and international cooperation; and
6. promoting the implementation of the MOU including the Conservation and
Management Plan itself.
The MOU establishes a basic institutional mechanism, consisting
of a
small secretariat and an advisory committee, both
funded by voluntary contributions. As with the
1999 MOU for African marine turtles,
however,
the instrument is not intended to create legally
binding obligations on its signatories, although the instrument is formally an
agreement under Article IV(4) of the
Convention on Migratory Species.
The MOU
became effective on 1 September 2001 for all Range States that signed it and remains open for signature
indefinitely, and shall become effective for all other signatory States on the
first day of the third month after their signature.
| Further information and references |
- Internet sources
IOSEA Marine Turtle MOU Secretariat
Convention on Migratory Species Secretariat
Marine Turtle MOU
- Bibliographic references
E. Morgera, 'First Meeting of the Parties to the IOSEA Memorandum of Understanding on Marine Turtles' International Fisheries Law and Policy Review (Special Issue) 47-50 (2003)
- Related instruments
 |
|
|
|