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.

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 Spain and Marine Protected Areas: Recent Developments

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-855
Author(s):  
Mariano J. Aznar
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Protected Area ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Marine Protected Area ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Barcelona Convention ◽  
Specially Protected Areas

Abstract Spain has just declared a new marine protected area in the Mediterranean. This follows a protective trend taken by Spanish authorities during the last decades and has permitted Spain to honour its international compromises under the Convention on Biological Diversity. It contributes to a framework of protected areas established under conventional regimes such as OSPAR, RAMSAR or EU Natura 2000. The new area protects a ‘cetacean corridor’ and will be inscribed in the list of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance under the Barcelona Convention regional framework.

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.

Reflections on High Seas Marine Protected Areas: A Comparative Analysis of the Mediterranean and the North-East Atlantic Models

2012 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshifumi Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
East Atlantic ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
High Seas

In 2010, the Contracting-Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention) created six marine protected areas (MPAs) on the high seas beyond 200 nautical miles with a view to protecting marine biological diversity. This is a significant step toward conservation of biological diversity on the high seas. The creation of high seas MPAs seems to provide a useful insight into the protection of community interests in marine spaces beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. At the same time, however, the creation of MPAs on the high seas raises some legal issues with regard to, inter alia, its legal ground, opposability to non-Contracting Parties, legitimacy, and practical implementation. Thus, this contribution seeks to examine legal issues regarding two types of MPAs on the high seas, namely: MPAs on the high seas which fall within potential exclusive economic zone of coastal States (the Mediterranean model) and MPAs on the high seas beyond 200 nautical miles (the North-East Atlantic model), respectively.

scholarly journals Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction: Regimes and Their Interaction

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 123-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret A. Young ◽  
Andrew Friedman
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
The South ◽  
East Atlantic ◽  
Adaptive Approach ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Marine Biological ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Fragmentation Of International Law ◽  
Law Making

International efforts to better conserve the marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) through a new international legally binding instrument1 are developing in a context of established norms and institutions. Existing regimes already address specific marine sectors (such as shipping), regions (such as fishing in the South East Atlantic), species (such as whales), and even underlying customary international law and territorial concepts (including the boundaries of the “high seas”2). States have agreed that they will not “undermine” these existing frameworks.3 We seek to contextualize this commitment within the fragmentation of international law and the interaction between regimes.4 We argue that international law-making should not be overly restricted by deference to existing competencies and mandates, which are fluid and asymmetrically supported. An inclusive and adaptive approach to existing and future institutions is vital in the ongoing quest for integrated and effective oceans governance.

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.

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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