Legal Issues in the Protection of Marine Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction

Abstract

States are facing new challenges with respect to conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). This underscores a significant gap in the existing legal regime, as embodied in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), for protection of marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction. Thus, there is a critical need for a legal instrument to specifically address the regulatory and governance gap in this area. To this end, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has set up an ad-hoc BBNJ Working Group. In January 2015, the BBNJ Working Group recommended that an international legally binding instrument under UNCLOS needed to be developed. This will enable UNGA to decide in its forthcoming 69th Session, in 2015, whether or not to launch negotiations for a new Implementing Agreement under the UNCLOS on the conservation and sustainable use of the marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The details and contours of the new legal instrument, however, have yet to be agreed to, by the international community. It is suggested that international community may consider the precedent of the United Nations Fish Stock Agreement (UNFSA) for taking the next steps in devising a legal instrument. Further, there is also a need to consider an institutional arrangement to address existing BBNJ governance gaps.