"UNEP has set up a process, but it cannot always control the results - that is up to the countries involved. UNEP provides an institutional framework and technical expertise, but the nations involved must provide the political will to solve their common problems.... the interest and concern generated by the Action Plans have triggered numerous national laws, research probjects and non-governmental actions throughout the world."

– James G. Speth, former President of the World Resources Institute and Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, a recipient of UNEP's 1988 Global 500 award

"Conditions differ from region to region. Some consist of small, unindustrialized countries, islands with vase ocean spaces between them; others are industrialized throughout, still others (like the Mediterranean) contain both industrialized and developing countries. The differences may lie in their resource base, hydrological and climatic conditions, or institutions infrastructures; each problem calling for solutions of its own.... But they all have one thing in common. The protection of the marine environment is a regional as much as a national responsibility, and co-operation in safeguarding the ecology of all is the basis for developing the economy of each."

– Elizabeth Mann Borgese, The oceans, the Convention and you (UNEP, 1991)

"By participating in the Regional Seas Action Plans and contributing to their respective Trust Funds, developing countries can help ensure the sustainable development of their oceans and coasts. Small countries might balk at the initial financial commitment but, in the long run, they will save 10 or 20 times that amount as environmental damage control costs are huge."

– Yusuf J. Ahmad of Bangladesh, interim head of UNEP's Oceans and Coastal Areas Programme and recipient of UNEP's Global 500 award

"...in the seventies we found it was politically feasible to help governments to work together on what were, at the regional level, clearly seen as "common" problems, whose solution was required for the sake of the future common good. Most governments were aware of the difficulties involved; working together with neighbours is not always easy, especially when the place where critical action will be taken is not "out there," off-shore or over the horizon, but right here, where difficult and expensive choices must be made."

– Peter Thacher, Deputy Executive Director of UNEP 1977-1983