Northwest Pacific Ocean
Background
During its meeting in July 2025, the Council of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) adopted the standardized procedure for the for the development, establishment and review of regional environmental management plans (REMPs), including a template for all REMPs (hereafter, the “standardized procedure”, ISBA/30/C/21). In its decision adopting the standardized procedure, the Council requested the Legal and Technical Commission (LTC) to advance its work on the development, establishment and review of REMPs, with a view to recommending to the Council new REMPs for priority areas where there are currently exploration contracts, taking into account exploration or exploitation activities and the best available scientific information (ISBA/30/C/20).
The process leading to the development of the draft REMP for the Area of the North-west Pacific Ocean (the “draft REMP”) started in 2018 and has followed the steps as outlined in the standardized procedure. The ISA has organized four expert workshops, three of which focused on the scientific aspects of REMP development. For these workshops, a data report and regional environmental characterization were prepared and updated for each workshop. A further workshop was held in 2026, focusing on the proposed management measures and priorities for implementation. The data report, regional environmental characterization and workshop reports are available on this page.
State and Stakeholder Consultation
Following the expert process as outlined above, the LTC formulated the draft REMP, taking into consideration the outcomes from the four workshops. During its meeting in July 2026, the LTC decided to release the draft REMP for a State and stakeholder consultation, in line with Section III. F of the standardized procedure.
States and stakeholders are invited to participate in the consultation, which will start from 5 August and end on 3 November 2026. The draft REMP and the template for submitting comments will be available on this webpage prior to the start of the consultation.
Following the consultation, the Commission will consider the comments received in accordance with Section IV. A of the standardized procedure.
Other information
The data report, regional environmental characterization and workshop reports related to discussions of the draft REMP are available below, for the information of States and stakeholders. These reports are not subject to consultation.
EXPERT WORKSHOPS
Northwest Pacific Ocean
26- 29 May 2018 – Qingdao, China
- Workshop on the Development of a REMP for Cobalt-Rich Ferromanganese Crusts in the Northwest Pacific Ocean
- Workshop Report: Technical Study 23: Report of the 2018 Workshop on NWP REMP
26 October – 6 November 2020 – Virtual workshop
- Workshop on the Regional Environmental Management Plan for the Area of the Northwest Pacific
- Workshop Report: Report of the 2020 Workshop on NWP REMP
19 – 23 February 2024 – Tokyo, Japan
