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This book provides a blueprint for an International Legally Binding Instrument (ILBI) for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The development of an ILBI could signify a pivotal turning point in the law of the sea by addressing regulatory, governance and institutional gaps and deficiencies in the existing international law framework for BBNJ.
This book analyses the essential components an ILBI will require to effectively conserve and sustainably use BBNJ, focusing on marine genetic resources, areabased management tools, environmental impact assessments, capacity-building and marine technology transfer. It investigates potential areas of compromise, as the success of an ILBI will rely upon the support of a powerful bloc of maritime States, principally the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, the Netherlands, France and Japan. The participation of major maritime powers will be critical as it is their nationals, corporations and flag vessels that have the financial and technical wherewithal to undertake activities beyond national jurisdiction. This bloc of States has historically been the strongest proponent of the Grotian doctrine of 'freedom of the seas' as it aligns with their predominant interest to preserve navigational freedom for their merchant and military fleets. Accordingly, this book assesses the extent to which the Grotian doctrine continues to exert influence on the development of the law of the sea and the development of an ILBI.
Providing a comprehensive overview of this important development in international law, this book will be of interest to students, lecturers and academics of law of the sea, international environmental law and biodiversity law.
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1 The promise and limits of international legal protection of BBNJ
2 The Grotian tradition and its place in the BBNJ negotiations: Is it a case of history repeating itself?
3 A principled backbone: The potential role of modern governance principles and approaches in an ILBI
4 A blueprint for Blue Gold: The search for planks of compromise in an ILBI
5 Caught in a geopolitical undertow: Marine protected areas beyond national jurisdiction
6 Environmental impact assessments: Devising a recipe for environmentally sustainable decision-making under an ILBI
7 Time to wake the Sleeping Giant: Implementing capacitybuilding and marine technology transfer in an ILBI
8 A bridge to the future protection of BBNJ
Appendix 1 Section B of the PrepCom Report—areas of divergence
Appendix 2 Comparison of proposed statements of principles for ABNJ
Appendix 3 Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Annex ‘Monetary and Non-Monetary Benefits’
Appendix 4 Minimum dataset of information for collectors
Appendix 5 Comparison of existing criteria to identify priority protection areas
Appendix 6 Article 46 of the Revised Draft Negotiating Text List of CBTT activities
Index
Sarah Louise Lothian is a Lecturer at the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong, Australia and a Barrister at the New South Wales Bar.
