Indicator 14.c.1 Number of countries making progress in ratifying, accepting and implementing through legal, policy and institutional frameworks, ocean-related instruments that implement international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources

Indicator 14.c.1: Number of countries making progress in ratifying, accepting and implementing through legal, policy and institutional frameworks, ocean-related instruments that implement international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources

Target 14.c: Enhance the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources, as recalled in paragraph 158 of “The future we want”

Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations Secretariat

Definition:

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 14.c.1 measures the number of countries making progress in the ratification of, accession to and implementation of ocean-related instruments that implement international law, as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources.

There are two aspects to this indicator:

• the number of countries making progress in ratifying and acceding to ocean-related instruments that implement international law as reflected in UNCLOS for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources, and

• the number of countries making progress in implementing such instruments through legal, policy and institutional frameworks.

Concepts:

N/A.

A score for the ratification of and accession to UNCLOS and its two implementing agreements and a score for the implementation of these instruments, expressed as percentages.

Data will be collected through a questionnaire, which has been developed to facilitate measurement of the number of countries making progress in ratifying, accepting and implementing through legal, policy and institutional frameworks, ocean-related instruments that implement international law, as reflected in UNCLOS, for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans and their resources, as called for under indicator 14.c.1.

Data will be provided by relevant government ministries, departments and agencies.

Implementation of UNCLOS and its implementing agreements through legal frameworks (for example, through national legislation or executive acts) as well as policy and institutional frameworks will be scored on the basis of a self-analysis by countries of the extent of implementation. Countries will be invited in the questionnaire to share information regarding their methods of implementation.

The indicator measures the number of countries making progress in ratifying, acceding to and implementing UNCLOS and its two implementing agreements through legal, policy and institutional frameworks.

This measurement of progress is computed on the basis of countries’ responses to the questionnaire, which contains three questions in respect to each of the three instruments.

Countries will be invited to respond to questions which relate to ratification of or accession to UNCLOS and its two implementing agreements (Questions 1.1, 2.1 and 3.1). They are coded with simple “Yes/No” answers, with a score of “1” for “Yes” and “0” for “No”. Each country’s overall score for ratification of or accession to these instruments will therefore be a number between 0 and 3, which will be reported as a percentage (with “100” representing a score of “3”, and “0” representing a score of “0”).

Countries will also be invited to respond to questions which relate to implementation of UNCLOS and its two implementing agreements through legal frameworks (Questions 1.2, 2.2 and 3.2) by evaluating their own national implementation and assigning a score of between 1 and 9 – with “1” being “not at all” and “9” being “fully” – or indicating that the question of implementation is not applicable (“N/A”).

Countries will further be invited to indicate whether they have a national policy and/or a national institution or another mechanism, such as a national focal point or an inter-agency or inter-departmental working group, with responsibility for ensuring that the problems of ocean space, matters related to the Part XI Agreement and matters related to UNFSA are considered through an integrated, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral approach (Questions 1.3, 2.3 and 3.3). These questions are coded with simple “Yes”, “No” and “N/A” answers, with a score of “1” for “Yes” and “0” for “No”.

The scoring methodology regarding implementation is the total of the scores reported by States regarding implementation through legal frameworks for UNCLOS and each of its two implementing agreements (in response to Questions 1.2, 2.2 and 3.2), added to the relevant scores achieved regarding implementation through national policy and/or national institutions for UNCLOS and each of its implementing agreements (in respect to Questions 1.3, 2.3 and 3.3). Pursuant to this scoring methodology, each State could achieve a maximum score of 30 points for implementation. These scores which will be reported as a percentage (with 100 representing a score of 30, 80 representing a score of 24, and so on).

“N/A” responses will not be included as part of the overall score calculation.

2021-02-01

Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations Secretariat

Implementation of target 14.c is linked to progress in all other targets of Sustainable Development Goal 14, and the other ocean-related Goals of the 2030 Agenda.

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