Stuck in the middle with you (and not much time left): The third intergovernmental conference on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction

Elizabeth M De Santo,Elizabeth Mendenhall,Elizabeth Nyman,Rachel Tiller

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2020.103957

Elizabeth M De Santo, Elizabeth Mendenhall + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2020.103957

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Abstract

The third of four scheduled Inter-Governmental Conferences on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction met in New York in August 2019. This article tracks the progress made in the negotiations, focusing on the four key themes the draft treaty is addressing: (1) marine genetic resources, (2) area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, (3) environmental impact assessments, and (4) capacity building and transfer of marine technology. Drawing on process tracing (i.e. observations, interviews, and literature analysis), we have observed several critical issues in the emerging institutional design of a future agreement for ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ (BBNJ). These include the continued ideological polarization between existing ocean governance principles (‘freedom of the seas’ and ‘common heritage of mankind’), disagreements about the delegation of authority to existing or created institutions, uneven participation of scientific and industry stakeholders, and the challenge of formulating a legal instrument that relies on inchoate or inconsistently used concepts. The conclusion looks ahead to the fourth Inter-Governmental Conference, and assesses the potential of reaching an effective agreement before the negotiations are scheduled to conclude in April 2020.

Highlights

The third of four scheduled Inter-Governmental Conferences on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction met in New York in August 2019
Jurisdiction, in line with United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) Resolution 72/249.2 The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ (BBNJ) negotiations are structured around four main sets of issues: (i) marine genetic resources, (ii) area based management tools, including marine protected areas, (iii) environmental impact assessments, and (iv) capacity building and the transfer of marine technology
We explore how the negotiations seem to have reverted back to the dichotomy between the common heritage of mankind and the freedom of the seas, despite attempts to set these principles aside in favor of less polarized alternatives, and how we appear to be stuck in the middle, with not much time left before the BBNJ instrument is due to be completed

Summary

Introduction

Covering three fourths of the earth’s surface area, the ocean is the world’s largest ecosystem. Jurisdiction (referred to here as the BBNJ negotiations), in line with United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) Resolution 72/249.2 The BBNJ negotiations are structured around four main sets of issues: (i) marine genetic resources, (ii) area based management tools, including marine protected areas, (iii) environmental impact assessments, and (iv) capacity building and the transfer of marine technology These issues represent the basic mandate of the BBNJ negotiations, which is to pro duce a single agreement that covers them all. Our analysis of IGC-2 considered whether and how the pre-existing ocean governance regime constrains or enables the nascent BBNJ agreement [4] In this analysis, we explore how the negotiations seem to have reverted back to the dichotomy between the common heritage of mankind and the freedom of the seas, despite attempts to set these principles aside in favor of less polarized alternatives, and how we appear to be stuck in the middle, with not much time left before the BBNJ instrument is due to be completed

Methods

Elements of the BBNJ package

Marine Genetic Resources4

Findings

Conclusion