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The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is a United Nations specialized agency, which aims to promote safe, secure, environmentally sound, efficient and sustainable shipping through the adoption of the highest practicable standards of maritime safety and security, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of pollution from ships. It also considers related legal matters and encourages the effective implementation of IMO's instruments, with a view to their universal and uniform application.

The Pacific islands maintain resource access rights and management responsibilities over 30 million square kilometers of ocean ? equivalent to the combined land areas of Canada, China and the United States of America. The total population of the Pacific islands is only 6.7 million people and only 2.6 million if the largely inland population of Papua New Guinea is excluded. There are at least 11 square kilometers of ocean for each and every Pacific Islander. Jurisdictionally, the sea is nearly 200 times more significant to the average Pacific Islander than it is to the average global citizen.1 This quote encapsulates the paramount importance of the oceans and its resources to pacific island countries and territories (PICTs). For many PICTs the ocean is their only significant natural resource and the good governance and sustainable management of their ocean resources is the key to their economic and social well?being.

The Workshop on the “Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 1972 (London Convention- LC) and its 1996 Protocol (London Protocol- LP)” was organised jointly by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Programme (SPREP), in collaboration with the Government of Fiji under the Department of Environment (DOE) and the Fiji Islands Maritime Safety Administration (FIMSA) for the Pacific Island Countries. The Workshop was organized within the framework of the Integrated Technical Co-operation and Assistance Programme (ITCP) established under the London Convention and Protocol using funds provided by the Government of Australia.