WHEREAS the first objective of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling is “the interest of the nations of
the world in safeguarding for future generations the great natural resources represented by the whale stocks”;
MINDFUL that, given the depleted status of great whale populations at the inception of the IWC, and that during the last 25
years, the International Whaling Commission has devoted a overwhelming part of its work to the pursuit of that conservation
objective;
NOTING that, through the adoption of more than a hundred conservation-oriented resolutions(1), as well as through various
Schedule amendments, the Commission has evolved into an organization internationally recognized, among other things, for
its meaningful contributions to the conservation of great whales; furthering that conservation work through those Resolutions
and Schedule amendments, the Commission has gradually developed an extensive conservation-oriented agenda(2);
NOTING that since the Convention came into force in 1948 several key conventions have been adopted which may affect
great whales, including, inter alia, UNLOS, CITES, IOC, ICSU, the CBD, CMS, ACCOBAMS and ASCOBANS;
RECOGNIZING the various challenges referred to in previous Resolutions and Schedule Amendments, it is prudent for the
Commission to effectively organize its future work in the pursuit of its objective by devising an appropriate agenda that
places special emphasis on its benefits to conservation.
NOW THEREFORE THE COMMISSION:
WELCOMES initiatives to assess the achievements and orientation of the cumulative work of the Commission in the pursuit
of its conservation objective;
ENDORSES the proposals made by various Contracting Governments to organize, on the basis of that assessment, the
future Conservation Agenda of the Commission and to cooperate in its preparation;
DECIDES to establish a Conservation Committee of the Commission, composed of all Contracting Parties, in conformity
with Article III paragraph 4 of the Convention;
DECIDES to entrust the Conservation Committee with:
(1) The preparation and recommendation to the Commission of its future Conservation Agenda, taking full account of
this Resolution;
(2) The implementation of those items in the Agenda that the Commission may refer to it and
(3) Making recommendations to the Commission in order to maintain and update the Conservation Agenda on a
continuing basis.
INSTRUCTS the Conservation Committee to meet before the Commission’s Annual Meeting in 2004, in order to organize
its work, so that the Conservation Agenda can be considered for adoption by the Commission at that Annual Meeting.
DIRECTS the Conservation Committee to explore how the Commission can coordinate its conservation agenda through
greater collaboration with a wider range of other organizations and conventions including inter alia CMS, CCAMLR, IMO,
IUCN, and UNEP.
REQUESTS the Scientific Committee to advise the Conservation Committee in the performance of the tasks entrusted to it
in this Resolution, and to ensure that the appropriate scientific research items, including inter alia, whalewatching,
environmental issues and behavioural research, under the responsibility of the Scientific Committee, are incorporated in the
Conservation Agenda.2
REQUESTS the Conservation Committee to begin exploring the possible establishment, by the Commission, of an
appropriate trust fund (including the identification of potential contributors), to make available the necessary financial
resources to the Commission and, particularly, to the Contracting Governments committed to implementing specific items of
the Conservation Agenda related to conservation-oriented research. To that end, the Committee shall give priority to the
question of securing assistance for scientific research and capacity building for scientists and institutions from developing
countries, and shall take advantage from the experiences obtained in other international environmental and conservation
conventions and treaties, in the establishment of similarly-oriented international funds.
DIRECTS the Secretariat to prepare a report, to be considered by the Commission at its next annual meeting, on the
implementation of Resolution 1998-6 regarding the establishment of a dedicated “Environment Research Fund” to facilitate
research on environmental change and cetaceans, as well as on the results of the appeal it made in its Resolution 1999-5 “to
the Contracting Governments, other governments, international organizations and other bodies to contribute financially an in
kind” to research programs, and to include in that report a recommendation to the Commission, as to how that Fund could
best be considered in the light of the possible establishment of the trust fund referred to in the previous paragraph
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