Sharing the benefits of marine genetic resources in the High Seas for conservation?

Abstract

The United Nations has resolved to start the process of negotiating an international treaty on marine genetic resources in the High Seas, because the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea does not cover these resources and they are under threat of extinction. However, when an international legal rule establishing international rights for “all people” over natural resources is in force, the problem of “who is entitled to what?” changes to “how to ensure conservation of resources?”, which in this case means how the conservation of these resources should be financed. In this paper, the benefits and problems, and possible legal solutions obtained from adopting a legal methodology, will be depicted, based on the work of legal scholars and formal legal methodology, particularly the structures of legal reasoning, and the absence of legal rules and possible solutions to this will be discussed. Problems related to the benefits of marine genetic resources in the High Seas include how they are obtained and for whom, and these problems should be addressed for the sake of clarity in future legal rules in a way that supports the conservation of these resources. This research paper concentrates on recent developments in the High Seas vis-à-vis marine genetic resources, and the problems of financing the conservation of these natural resources. It discusses possible solutions to these problems through the equitable sharing of the benefits, following other international treaties, legal reasoning and legal arguments in relation to the manifestation of public policy.