On September 23, in London, UK, President Hong Gi-hoon of the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST) was unanimously elected as the chairperson of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the London Convention and Protocol, which aims to stop the dumping of wastes at sea.
* The London Convention: This is an international convention on the prevention of marine pollution by the dumping of wastes and other matter; it has 87 parties. In 1996, the London Protocol was adopted to improve compliance with the Convention; it has 47 parties. 

【Photo 1. Hong Gi-hoon, president of KIOST (center), and Lim Kitack, secretary general of the IMO (left),
at the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the London Convention and Protocol】

The Conference of the Contracting Parties, the supreme decision-making body of the London Convention and Protocol, is convened annually at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and its chairperson can serve for up to four years.

In 2011, President Hong Gi-hoon was elected as the chairperson, the first from a non-English-speaking country, of the Meeting of the London Convention and Protocol Scientific Group, and he served in that post for four years. In 2014, he was appointed as the executive vice chairperson of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the London Convention and Protocol, serving for a period of two years.

President Hong Gi-hoon’s appointment as the chairperson of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the London Convention and Protocol is the result of his efforts to ban the dumping of wastes at sea and his major contribution to revising the London Protocol with the goal of responding to climate change. The Conference also hosted discussions on ways to support the operation of the London Protocol Engineering Master of Project Administration (LPEM)**, due to open in September next year.
** London Protocol Engineering Master of Project Administration (LPEM): This is an educational body intended to foster experts in the management of coastal engineering projects. In June 2016, KIOST was selected by the Joint Secretariat of the London Convention and Protocol as the institution responsible for launching and operating the LPEM and was approved by the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the London Convention and Protocol.

【Photo 2. Scene of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the London Convention and Protocol】

President Hong Gi-hoon said, “Scientists are currently making progress on the development of an international treaty on marine environment protection, based on the recognition that the marine environment needs to be understood at a scientific level in order to tackle pending issues.” He went on to say, “KIOST will actively contribute to the national tasks of marine environment conservation and global marine environment protection based on the results of its research and development of related science and technology.”