The Common Heritage of Mankind: Expanding the Oceanic Circle

Elisabeth Mann Borgese became known as the ‘Mother of the Oceans’. This title embraced both her deep love and respect for the oceans and her enormous contribution to oceans governance, including development of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).² In this task, she worked closely with her friend and colleague, Arvid Pardo, former Maltese ambassador to the United Nations (UN). Appropriately, his contributions to the international law of the sea earned him the title: ‘Father of the law of the sea’. From 1967 onwards, they worked as a team advocating for adoption of the