Happy World Oceans Day!

As previewed before the weekend, today is the first official World Oceans Day. And as I stressed before, this sounds like the perfect opportunity to push for U.S. ratification of the Law of the Sea treaty. He doesn’t call out Washington, but the S-G would certainly agree.

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provides the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out, and is the basis for international cooperation on all levels,” UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.

The world must do more to implement this Convention and uphold the rule of law on the seas and oceans,” he stressed. [emphasis mine]

A reminder: today is the last day to call or write the White House urging support for this treaty. Take a few minutes, for the oceans’ sakes.

UPDATE: IntLawGrrls has more.