Conserving marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction: co-evolution and interaction with the law of the sea

Abstract

As global shipping intensifies and technological advances provide more opportunities to access the resources of the high seas and the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), the catalog of threats to the marine environment and its biodiversity increase commensurately. Beyond these threats, new and emerging uses of ABNJ including more intrusive marine scientific research, bio-prospecting, deep seabed mining and environmental modification activities to mitigate the effects of climate change have the potential to harm the highly interconnected and sensitive ecosystems of the open ocean and the deep seabed if not sustainably managed now and into the future. Modern conservation norms such as environmental impact assessment (EIA), marine protected areas, marine spatial planning and development mechanisms such as technology transfer and capacity building are under developed in the legal and institutional framework for ABNJ. This article examines key normative features of the legal and institutional framework for ABNJ and their applicability to conservation of marine biodiversity, gaps and disconnects in that framework and on-going global initiatives to develop more effective governance structures. It discusses some of the options being considered in the UN Ad Hoc Informal Open-ended Working Group to study issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ Working Group) to evolve the legal and institutional framework for conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ and their current and future relevance for the law of the sea. It concludes that the discussions in the BBNJ Working Group and related initiatives in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and at regional level have demonstrated that a more integrated legal and institutional structure is needed to address growing threats to marine biodiversity in ABNJ.

Scientists' perspectives on global ocean research priorities

“…Oceans, however, face serious threats on multiple fronts due to over-exploitation of marine life (Jackson et al, 2001;Lewison et al, 2014), changes in upland land use, hydrological cycles and pollution (Derraik, 2002;Small and Nicholls, 2003;Crossland et al, 2005;Camargo and Alonso, 2006;Lotze et al, 2006;Dahms, 2014), climate change and its associated effects on sea level rise, ocean temperature redistribution and acidification (Hoegh-Guldberg, 1999;Caldeira and Wickett, 2003;Church and White, 2006;Heip et al, 2011;Doney et al, 2012;Balmaseda et al, 2013;Kroeze et al, 2013;Achterberg, 2014;Hollowed and Sundby, 2014), and other emerging challenges (Keeling et al, 2010;Cole et al, 2011;Ramirez-Llodra et al, 2011;Gramling, 2014). Further, ocean governance has special challenges associated with political and legal arrangements within and beyond areas of national jurisdiction (Berkes et al, 2006;Warner, 2014), monitoring marine environmental and ecological conditions (Katsanevakis et al, 2012), limited knowledge regarding the links between ocean environmental conditions and ecological structure, function and services (Balvanera et al, 2006;Heip et al, 2009;Armstrong et al, 2012;Liquete et al, 2013), and understanding how various governance interventions affect goods and services that oceans provide humans (Rudd, 2004;Schlüter et al, 2013). These issues may strongly impact food security and livelihood viability for hundreds of millions of people who depend on ocean resources (Allison et al, 2009;Garcia and Rosenberg, 2010;…”

Linking Capacity Development to GOOS Monitoring Networks to Achieve Sustained Ocean Observation

“…SDG14 is an international policy response to these "wicked problems" (Rittel and Webber, 1973), capturing the wide range of international aspirations for the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources and, through SDG14.7, recognizing their global importance for achieving all other SDGs (Singh et al, 2018). However, the fragmented and increasingly complex ocean governance framework, comprising a plethora of international legal instruments (Ardron et al, 2014;Warner, 2014; Figure 1) creates a complicated reporting environment for governments and a high demand for scientific information to underpin the design, monitoring, and evaluation of policy and implementation.…”

Deep-sea genetic resources: New frontiers for science and stewardship in areas beyond national jurisdiction

“…4 A new ILBI could address gaps and fragmentation in the existing international legal framework Gjerde, 2014, Warner, 2014). This is a critical step for deep-sea stewardship 5 that could facilitate international cooperation for sustainable management (Rochette et al, 2015, Warner, 2014 and promote new action needed to address the numerous and growing threats to deep-sea biodiversity (Benn et al, 2010, Halpern et al, 2008, Van Dover, 2014 in ABNJ. MGR are a complex and highly contentious issue for the negotiations for a new ILBI, which will also consider: area-based management tools, including marine protected areas; environmental impact assessments; and capacity building and the transfer of marine technology.…”