scholarly journals The Limits of Sectoral and Regional Efforts to Designate High Seas Marine Protected Areas

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 129-133
Author(s):  
David Freestone
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
International Community ◽  
Sargasso Sea ◽  
Ocean Governance ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
High Seas

This essay addresses the question of how the international community could designate high seas marine protected areas (MPAs) that would be binding on all states. This is a key issue for the forthcoming UN negotiations of an International Legally Binding Instrument (ILBI) on conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. However, this is a longstanding question, the importance of which transcends the ILBI negotiations. Some have argued for the establishment of a centralized Ocean Governance Authority, whose decisions would be universally binding; others have argued that existing regional and sectoral bodies can be relied on to protect biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The experience of the Sargasso Sea project is that some sort of centralized or coordinating regime is needed to make MPAs effective across regional and sectoral bodies.

Marine Protected Areas beyond National Jurisdiction: Some Practical Perspectives for Moving Ahead

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina M. Gjerde ◽  
Anna Rulska-Domino
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Political Commitments ◽  
High Seas

Abstract Despite strong legal duties and political commitments for marine conservation and ecosystem-based management, biodiversity in the high seas and the Area (jointly referred to as areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ)) is under increasing threat. One important tool for enhancing conservation and multi-sectoral cooperation is the establishment and maintenance of representative networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). This commentary reviews potential avenues for accelerating progress towards representative MPA networks as part of a larger-scale effort towards improving the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. It builds on the report by Petra Drankier, Marine Protected Areas in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, Report on Research Question 2 of the Study on ‘Biological Diversity and Governance of the High Seas’ (2011), which describes the applicable global and regional conventions by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of proposed avenues for progress, including a possible multilateral agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC). The commentary concludes with some observations for a pragmatic path ahead.

Conservation on the High Seas: Developing the Concept of the High Seas Marine Protected Areas

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 849-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen N. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
South Orkney Islands ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
High Seas

Abstract This article explores developments in connection with marine protected areas (MPAs) on the high seas, beginning with a brief survey of existing high seas MPAs, recent initiatives such as the designation of the South Orkney Islands MPA, the creation of a network of OSPAR MPAs and the work undertaken by the UN General Assembly on developing a framework for oceans governance in areas beyond national jurisdiction. It considers: the absence of a clear legal basis for the creation of MPAs on the high seas; the relationship between MPA designation and traditional high seas freedoms; and the complex jurisdictional arrangements that govern activities on and in the high seas.

Marine Protected Areas on the High Seas: Some Legal and Policy Considerations

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tullio Scovazzi
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
International Law ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Consultative Process ◽  
Specially Protected Areas ◽  
High Seas

AbstractThe 2003 meeting of the United Nations Open-Ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea made a call to explore a range of tools for the protection and management of vulnerable and threatened marine ecosystems and biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. To achieve this aim, the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) on the high seas not only fully complies with customary international law, but is also the subject-matter of specific obligations arising under a number of treaties (starting from UNCLOS Art. 194, para. 5). Today the time-honoured concept of freedom of the sea is to be understood in the context of the present range of marine activities and in relation to all the potentially conflicting uses and interests, such as the protection of the marine environment and the sound exploitation of marine living resources. The 1995 Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean is an interesting precedent on the issue of MPAs on the high seas.

scholarly journals The Proposed Implementing Agreement: Options for Coherence and Consistency in the Establishment of Protected Areas beyond National Jurisdiction

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 654-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dire Tladi
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
International Law ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
The Third ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Regional Fisheries Management Organizations ◽  
Regional Fisheries Management ◽  
High Seas

The purpose of this article is to provide initial thoughts on potential conflicts between the mandates of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (rfmos) and any mechanisms for establishing Marine Protected Areas in the high seas and how these conflicts might be avoided. The article addresses first, whether the fears that may exist concerning the conflicts are, as a matter of international law, real and to the extent that they are real, how an Implementing Agreement (ia) might be shaped to avoid them. As the article is intended to provide only initial thoughts, the range of rfmos and possible conflicts are only illustrative and are not intended to be comprehensive. With the potential conflicts in mind, the article then provides, in the third section, possible approaches that the drafters of the ia could adopt to avoid and/or mitigate these conflicts. Finally, the article offers some concluding remarks.

International high seas biodiversity concerns to rise

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Marine Resources ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Core Issues ◽  
High Seas

Subject High seas biodiversity. Significance The third session of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction took place in New York last month, making notable progress on the structure of a new international treaty on governance of the high seas. Divergences nevertheless remain on several long-debated core issues, such as the complexity of regulations required to designate new marine protected areas (MPAs), and the depth of obligations, including by the private sector, to share benefits from extracting living marine resources. Impacts Common standards will be developed for collecting and sharing data on high seas fishing and other activities. High seas scientific research will face a new regulatory environment after the treaty enters into force. Flag states will face scrutiny over flags of convenience, hindering firms’ moves to shift ship registrations to less strict jurisdictions.

NEGOTIATING CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF MARINE BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY IN AREAS BEYOND NATIONAL JURISDICTION: PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-93
Author(s):  
Tullio Scovazzi
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Marine Biological ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The United Nations

Negotiations will start at the United Nations in order to draft an agreement on conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction. It will address, together and as a whole, marine genetic resources, including questions on the sharing of benefits, area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, capacity building and transfer of marine technology. The new agreement would fill certain gaps currently existing in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It could include provisions for strategic impact assessment of activities affecting the environment, the creation of a network of high seas marine protected areas of world importance and the establishment of a new regime for the exploitation of genetic resources. The question is open whether such a new regime should be based on the principle of the freedom of the seas, and in this case the very need of such a regime becomes questionable, or rather on the principle of common heritage of mankind. A third possibility involves a pragmatic approach, as proposed by the European Union and its Member States, an approach that however is still to be defined in its concrete elements.

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