scholarly journals Marine Technology Transfer under a BBNJ Treaty: A Case for Transnational Network Cooperation

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 144-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Minas
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Private Industry ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Marine Technology

Our ability to protect and sustainably use the high seas is ultimately subject to our ability to understand this vast and remote environment. The success of an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) will depend, in part, on utilizing technology to access ocean life, to analyze it, and to implement measures for its conservation and sustainable use. Indeed, technology, broadly defined, is integral to meeting the ILBI's objectives: not just the mandate to address “capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology,” but also the sustainable use and conservation of marine genetic resources, the implementation of environmental impact assessments, and biodiversity conservation measures such as area-based management tools. To maximize marine technology deployment to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, transferring technology to developing countries will be critical. Provisions for the transfer of technology, generally from developed to developing countries, are included in many international environmental agreements and declarations, but these provisions have often proven difficult to implement. Part of the difficulty is that the relevant technology is dispersed among states; universities, research institutes and other nonstate actors; and private industry. The particular challenge in crafting an ILBI is, as the European Union has identified, to avoid repeating existing provisions and instead to “focus on added value.” One opportunity for an ILBI to add value on technology transfer is to further develop a network model to facilitate marine technology transfer.

Capacity Building and Technology Transfer for Marine Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 243-245
Author(s):  
Harriet Harden-Davies
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Capacity Development ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
United Nations Convention

Marine science and technology have long been recognized as key issues to enable states to implement the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Scientific capacity development and technology transfer are cross-cutting issues in the development of a new international legally binding instrument (ILBI) for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction under UNCLOS. The acquisition, exchange, and application of scientific knowledge are critical issues in the development of the ILBI.

scholarly journals Marine Genetic Resources in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Promoting Marine Scientific Research and Enabling Equitable Benefit Sharing

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex D. Rogers ◽  
Amy Baco ◽  
Elva Escobar-Briones ◽  
Kristina Gjerde ◽  
Judith Gobin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The United Nations

Growing human activity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) is driving increasing impacts on the biodiversity of this vast area of the ocean. As a result, the United Nations General Assembly committed to convening a series of intergovernmental conferences (IGCs) to develop an international legally-binding instrument (ILBI) for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of ABNJ [the biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement] under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The BBNJ agreement includes consideration of marine genetic resources (MGR) in ABNJ, including how to share benefits and promote marine scientific research whilst building capacity of developing states in science and technology. Three IGCs have been completed to date with the fourth delayed by the Covid pandemic. This delay has allowed a series of informal dialogues to take place between state parties, which have highlighted a number of areas related to MGR and benefit sharing that require technical guidance from ocean experts. These include: guiding principles on the access and use of MGR from ABNJ; the sharing of knowledge arising from research on MGR in ABNJ; and capacity building and technology transfer for developing states. In this paper, we explain what MGR are, the methods required to collect, study and archive them, including data arising from scientific investigation. We also explore the practical requirements of access by developing countries to scientific cruises, including the sharing of data, as well as participation in research and development on shore whilst promoting rather than hindering marine scientific research. We outline existing infrastructure and shared resources that facilitate access, research, development, and benefit sharing of MGR from ABNJ; and discuss existing gaps. We examine international capacity development and technology transfer schemes that might facilitate or complement non-monetary benefit sharing activities. We end the paper by highlighting what the ILBI can achieve in terms of access, utilization, and benefit sharing of MGR and how we might future-proof the BBNJ Agreement with respect to developments in science and technology.

Negotiating an International Legal Instrument on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction: A Look Ahead

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Marta Abegón Novella
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Look Ahead ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Final Agreement ◽  
Core Issues

The negotiation of the future Agreement governing the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction is in its final stage. Essentially a treaty for the protection of general interests, the Agreement can generate several benefits for the governance of the oceans. However, in the first three sessions of the intergovernmental conference, deep discrepancies have emerged with respect to the core issues of the package agreed in 2011. This article identifies various formulas and strategies that have been considered in the negotiations and incorporated in the Revised draft text as possible regulatory options with the potential to bring positions closer and facilitate the agreement: avoiding explicit reference to the legal status of marine genetic resources; the incorporation of differential and contextual norms; the introduction of due diligence obligations; the incorporation of internal soft law; and the reduction of the scope of the treaty. These options may help to provide flexibility and differentiation in the regulation but, as essentially pragmatic measures, they tend to sacrifice the ambition of the final Agreement. On the other hand, if States assume their real role and responsibility in the process –that of interpreters of general interest and custodians of marine biodiversity –they would be in a better position to find novel and more ambitious solutions for bringing this crucial Agreement to fruition. This article advocates a return to basics and the placing of the marine environment at the centre of the regulations.

Part III Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Global Ocean Governance, 8 Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Securing a Sound Law of the Sea Instrument

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Millicay Fernanda
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Ocean Governance ◽  
Preparatory Committee ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
United Nations Convention

This chapter examines the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). It first provides an overview of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom), convened by the UN General Assembly to make recommendations on the elements for a possible future multilateral agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The material scope of the PrepCom is constituted by ‘the package’ agreed upon in 2011 and includes the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. The chapter discusses the challenges of the package, focusing on two interlinked dimensions of the package plus the big issue that underlies it. It also considers two main tasks facing PrepCom: the first is to clearly identify all elements of each substantive set of issues composing the package, and the second task is to understand the implications of each element of these three substantive sets of issues and the inter-linkages between them.

scholarly journals Managing Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Molenaar
Keyword(s):  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Fish Stocks ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Rate Loss

AbstractThe global loss of biological diversity (biodiversity), both terrestrial and marine, occurs currently at an alarming and probably unprecedented rate. The main purpose of this article—which focuses in particular on marine capture fisheries—is to identify shortcomings in the international legal framework relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) and possible solutions for selected shortcomings. The latter relate to discrete high seas fish stocks, deep-sea species and fisheries, integrated marine protected areas (MPAs) in ABNJ and, finally, to existing and new rights to conserve marine biodiversity. The main argument on this last topic is that in view of the current rate loss of marine biodiversity, reform should not just be limited to the traditional approach of strengthening, deepening and broadening obligations but should be balanced with optimizing use of existing rights and/or granting new rights to ensure that the overarching balance between socio-economic interests and the interests of marine biodiversity of present and future generations is archived.

Redefining environmental stewardship to deliver governance frameworks for marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction

2017 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 435-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope Ridings
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Environmental Stewardship ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
National Jurisdiction

Abstract In 2015 the United Nations General Assembly decided to develop an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. To that end, it established a Preparatory Committee (PrepCom), to make substantive recommendations to the General Assembly on the elements of a draft text of an ILBI. The PrepCom has identified the tension between the principle of the common heritage of mankind and high seas freedoms embodied in UNCLOS as one of the issues which must be addressed in such an international agreement. Some participants in the process have proposed a sui generis regime as a way of resolving any apparent clash of these international legal principles, particularly as it relates to marine genetic resources and their access and benefit sharing. This article argues that environmental stewardship may provide the framework for such a sui generis regime. For it to do so, however, it must be grounded in international legal principles and act as a balance between competing values, perspectives and interests in the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. If appropriately redefined in this way, environmental stewardship can deliver a governance framework which addresses some of the central issues with which the PrepCom will have to deal. These include the practical problems of access and benefit sharing of the marine genetic resources of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and reconciling the conflicting pressure for international decision-making for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity on the one hand, and the maintenance of existing regional and sectoral frameworks on the other. Environmental stewardship, redefined, can provide an intellectual framework for an ILBI under UNCLOS on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

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.

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.

scholarly journals Marine Biodiversity Negotiations During COVID-19: A New Role for Digital Diplomacy?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Alice B. M. Vadrot ◽  
Arne Langlet ◽  
Ina Tessnow-von Wysocki ◽  
Petro Tolochko ◽  
Emmanuelle Brogat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Environmental Diplomacy ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Digital Diplomacy ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic have indefinitely postponed in-person formal international negotiations for a new legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). As a result, online initiatives have emerged to keep informal dialogue ongoing among both state and nonstate actors. To continue our research on the BBNJ process, we adapted our methodology and conducted a survey in May 2020 exploring the impact of COVID-19 on respondents’ BBNJ-related work and communication. This research note identifies online initiatives and communication channels set up to maintain negotiation momentum and examines the challenges and opportunities of digital diplomacy for multilateral environmental agreement making, as well as the study thereof. We discuss future avenues for global environmental politics research and conclude that digital ethnographies provide an entry point to study some of these dynamics but need to be adapted to the study of negotiation settings and the specific context of multilateral environmental diplomacy.

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