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.

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.

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.

International ocean management debates will swell

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
International Agreement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ocean Management ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
General Assembly Resolution ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
High Seas

Subject Management of the oceans and biodiversity. Significance This year, negotiations on a new international agreement to govern biodiversity conservation on the high seas, entitled 'Biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction' (BBNJ), will commence. This follows a UN General Assembly resolution in December 2017. The first round of talks will begin at the UN's New York headquarters from September 4-17, but an initial organising meeting will convene in March to appoint a conference chair and agree on an initial ‘zero draft’ preliminary text. Impacts Pressures to establish new institutions to govern oceanic issues, and controversies over their remit, will grow. Formal talks will provide campaigning opportunities for marine-conservation-oriented civil society groups. Concerns about high seas climate geoengineering (counteracting climate change, such as via iron fertilisation) will grow.

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.

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.

Considering the concept of the ecological civilization for conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity under the umbrella of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction instrument

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 248-262
Author(s):  
Sabrina Hasan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Ecological Civilization ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Marine Environmental

In exploring how the concept of ecological civilization can be applied to maintain adequate marine environmental governance for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity, the article first highlights the existing issues concerning conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity. It then suggests that ecological civilization can contribute as a norm to formulate the principles and approaches as well as to set goals and targets under the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction instrument.

The Global Commons and Common Interests: Is there Common Ground?

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-45
Author(s):  
Nilufer Oral
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Global Commons ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
And Control ◽  
High Seas

The global commons, or common areas, are those areas that lie beyond the national jurisdiction and control of any state. In general, these areas include the deep seabed, the high seas, the atmosphere, the Moon and outer space, and Antarctica. However, other than falling under a common nomenclature there is no common regime that applies to these common areas, or global commons. This chapter examines the different regimes of common heritage, common concern, and the freedom of the high seas, as they apply to the different global commons looking at the specific case of the new international legally binding instrument for conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction under negotiations at the United Nations. In conclusion the legal landscape that emerges for the global commons is one more of variation than commonality.

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