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UN-OCEANS encompasses most UN operations relating to the oceans. After the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, Agenda 21 - "an international programme of action for global sustainable development for the 21st century" - was adopted (UN-OCEANS, 2005). Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 calls for protection of the oceans, resulting in the formation of the Sub-committee on Oceans and Coastal Areas of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC SOCA) in 1993. Due to the extensive number of agencies and committees already addressing the issue of the oceans and the need for a "new inter-agency coordinating mechanism," in September 2003, "the United Nations High-Level Committee on Programmes approved the creation of an Oceans and Coastal Areas Network (subsequently named 'UN-Oceans') to build on SOCA" (UN-OCEANS, 2005). As stated by their webpage, UN-OCEANS has been established to:
Wiki Markup Strengthen coordination and cooperation of United Nations activities \[and Secretariats of International Organizations and Bodies\] related to oceans and coastal areas;
- Review the relevant programmes and activities of the United Nations system, undertaken as part of its contribution to the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation;
- Identify emerging issues, define joint actions and establish specific task teams to deal with these, as appropriate;
- Promote the integrated management of oceans at the international level...;
- Promote the coherence of United Nations system activities on oceans and coastal area....
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Oceans and Law of the Sea: Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea. (23 October 2007). United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982. Retrieved 12 November 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm
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^^I got this citation method from the Cornell Library on what to do when citing an entire website.