Nereus Senior Research Fellow Daniel Dunn (Duke) will organize a two-day focus group, from July 28th to July 29th, in preparation for the International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) taking place from July 30 to August 3 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. The focus group will cover the biological diversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) PrepCom process.
Session description:
Conserving the other 50% of the world: status and opportunities in conservation of areas beyond national jurisdiction
For over half of Earth’s surface, the open ocean and deep seas in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), no comprehensive mechanism exist to conserve biodiversity. Driven by swelling market demand and new technologies, the human footprint in the high seas increasingly threatens marine biodiversity (Ramirez-Llodra et al. 2011; Merrie et al. 2014). This has led to repeated calls for the conservation of areas beyond national jurisdiction (Van Dover et al., 2011; Barbier et al., 2014). This past June, the UNGA adopted a resolution to establish a Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) to begin negotiations on a new legally-binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdictions. This consensus resolution marks both the culmination of a herculean 10-year effort to bring the topic to the floor of the UNGA and, at the same time, the first step in a larger process. The negotiations that will ensue over the next two years will set the stage for the conservation of biodiversity for the other 50% of the planet and represent an enormous opportunity to inform conservation policy and effect change. In this workshop we will examine the status and opportunities for conservation of ABNJ by reviewing new scientific findings and current sectoral efforts to conserve biodiversity. We will synthesize this information and consider how it can inform a new instrument and how the new instrument may affect existing competent authorities.
