MPA Symposium - Zoological Society of London

MARINE PROTECTED AREAS ON THE HIGH SEAS
AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM HELD AT ZSL ON 3 AND 4 FEBRUARY 2011
ABSTRACTS OF TALKS
16.10–16.35 What is needed in terms of law to facilitate progress towards the 2012
goals?
Kristina M. Gjerde and Anna Rulska-Domino, IUCN Global Marine Programme,
Poland
The biggest hurdle to establishing protected areas in the ocean beyond national jurisdiction was
long thought to be scientific. However, initiatives such as the Census of Marine Life
(www.CoML.org) and the Global Marine Biodiversity Initiative (www.GOBI.org) are shedding new
light on the once remote open ocean and deep sea, making it realistic to seek to identify key
habitats and migratory corridors.
Challenges however remain on the institutional and legal side. In 2008, the parties to the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted scientific criteria for identifying ‘ecologically or
biologically significant areas’ and guidance for designing networks of protected areas in the open
ocean and deep sea. In 2010, the CBD agreed a scientific process through regional workshops
to help States to identify ecologically or biologically significant areas based on these CBD
criteria.
While specific places can be protected through existing international and regional processes and
agreements, we lack a global legal instrument that lays out the procedures and responsibilities
for protecting areas in the high seas or seabed area. What exists instead is a patchwork of
agreements and bodies that govern specific human uses, such as fishing, shipping or seabed
mining, under the general umbrella of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
While the Law of the Sea Convention contains a very explicit obligation for all States to protect
and preserve the marine environment, it did not provide a clear institutional arrangement to
accomplish this. A global-scale agreement could support such efforts by enhancing progress
across all regions and sectors, and not just in regions with the scientific, legal and technical
capacity to manage large ocean areas.
The United Nations has established an informal working group specifically to discuss and
develop recommendations on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity
in areas beyond national jurisdiction. At the Working Group’s third meeting in February 2010,
governments expressed willingness to accelerate progress on protected areas.
Recommendations of the Working Group have been endorsed by United Nations General
Assembly resolution. To facilitate the scale of progress needed to meet the 2012 WSSD target
for representative networks of marine protected areas, this informal UN Working Group will need
to tackle the institutional and legal challenges.
At the same time, wider reforms will be needed to ensure international and cross-sectoral
cooperation and to increase capacities to sustainably and equitably manage ocean resources
beyond the zones of national jurisdiction.
For further information, please contact: Publications and Meetings, ZSL, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4RY, UK. anne.braae@zsl.org