Challenges to Protecting the Marine Environment beyond National Jurisdiction

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 839-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina M. Gjerde
Keyword(s):  
Marine Environment ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Human History ◽  
Global Community ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The Law

Abstract In the past thirty years since the signing of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC), the ocean has changed more than in all of human history before. It is now facing a multitude of interconnected threats that require comprehensive, precautionary and integrated management. This review of the environmental provisions in Part XII of the LOSC with respect to the high seas and the seabed area beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) reveals significant strengths as well as substantial weaknesses and gaps. Governments are now grappling with how to address problems related to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ. This commentary concludes that Part XII will need strengthening, including through an implementing agreement, to enable the global community to cope with the escalating challenges of a changing ocean.

16 The United Nations: A Practitioner’s Perspective

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corell Hans
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Fish Stocks ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Law

This chapter discusses the contributions of the United Nations to the development of the law of the sea during the period following the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) in 1982. It covers preparing for the entry into force of the LOSC; informal consultations relating to the implementation of Part XI of the LOSC; establishing the Convention institutions after the entry into force of the LOSC; the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS); United Nations conferences on the human environment; the role of the General Assembly; the Meeting of States Parties to the LOSC; sustainable fisheries and straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks; the Oceans and Coastal Areas Network (UN-Oceans); the United Nations open-ended informal consultative process on oceans and the law of the sea; the so-called Regular Process; the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction; and piracy on the agenda of the Security Council.

THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR A NEW IMPLEMENTING AGREEMENT UNDER THE UN CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA CONCERNING MARINE BIODIVERSITY

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 585-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efthymios Papastavridis
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Common Heritage Of Mankind ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The Common ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The Law ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article discusses the current negotiations for an Implementing Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. It discusses, in particular, the issue of the relationship of the new agreement with existing and future relevant regional instruments and bodies and the need for cooperation and coordination amongst them, the guiding principles of the new agreement, and the question of implementation and enforcement of the new agreement. These issues and the choices that delegations will make respectively highlight the controversy on the underpinning tenet of the agreement, ie between the ‘freedom of the high seas’ and the common heritage of mankind. The article concludes with a pessimistic prognosis that, in general, the agreement will fall short of the expectations that many States and international community have had at the early days of the negotiation.

33 Conserving Marine Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Co-Evolution and Interaction with the Law of the Sea

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warner Robin M
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Multilateral Agreement ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The Law

This chapter explores key normative features of the legal and institutional framework for areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) and their applicability to the conservation of marine biodiversity. It considers gaps and disconnects in that framework and global and regional initiatives to develop the legal and institutional framework for conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ. It suggests that the biodiversity conservation elements of any multilateral agreement adopted under the umbrella of the UN Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) should be designed to implement the spirit and intent of Part XII provisions of the LOSC, rather than radically changing the basic principles and inherent balance of the law of the sea.

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 The High Seas Freedom to Lay Submarine Cables and the Protection of the Marine Environment: Challenges in High Seas Governance

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 139-143
Author(s):  
Tara Davenport
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The Law ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
Submarine Cables ◽  
High Seas

The freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines, one of the most venerated high seas freedoms under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), faces an uncertain future under the new international legally binding instrument (ILBI) being negotiated in the United Nations. UN General Assembly Resolution 72/249, authorizing the intergovernmental conference for the new ILBI, does not expressly mention submarine cables or pipelines but states that “the work and results of the conference should be fully consistent with the provisions of” UNCLOS. The issues in a new ILBI that are likely to have an impact on the freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines in areas beyond national jurisdiction are (1) area-based management tools, and (2) environmental impact assessments (EIAs), which are mechanisms used to protect and preserve the marine environment and biodiversity. The challenge for high seas governance (and indeed, the perennial challenge for the law of the sea) is how to balance these two ostensibly competing, but equally valuable, interests: the protection of the marine environment and biodiversity and the high seas freedom to lay submarine cables in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Precaution and the Protection of Marine Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Rayfuse
Keyword(s):  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
Legal Development ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Marine Environmental Protection ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The Law ◽  
Marine Environmental

Abstract As a post-LOSC legal development, the precautionary principle is nowhere enunciated in the Law of the Sea Convention. Nevertheless, in the thirty years since the LOSC’s adoption, the significance of the precautionary principle for marine environmental protection in general and marine resource conservation in particular has been recognised. The language of precaution, the precautionary principle and the precautionary approach have entered the lexicon of the law of the sea, permeating the international community’s efforts to manage and conserve marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The challenge remains, however, of crafting and implementing management and governance regimes capable of achieving the objectives of precautionary management and turning the rhetoric of precaution into a reality.

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.

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