The Nereus Program hosted a side event at the 3rd Preparatory Committee Meeting on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), March 27 to April 7 at the UN Headquarters, in New York. The Preparatory Committee was established to make recommendations to the UN General Assembly in the process of drafting a legally binding instrument for protections of the high seas under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The side event entitled “Adjacency: How legal precedent, ecological connectivity, and traditional knowledge inform our understanding of proximity” was held on April 4.

Fellow Daniel Dunn, Fellow Guillermo Ortuño Crespo, and Principal Investigator Patrick Halpin (Duke University), along with partners from other institutions, presented and discussed topics surrounding state governance in areas of the high seas adjacent to their Economic Exclusive Zones (EEZs). The side event highlighted main findings and recommendations in a recently released policy brief on adjacency as part of the Nereus Scientific & Technical Briefs on ABNJ Series.

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Hosts, Presenters & Discussants Included:
Dr. Daniel C. Dunn, Duke University & NF-UBC Nereus Program
H.E. Jane Chigiyal, Federated States of Micronesia
Dr. Robin Warner, University of Wollongong: “The connected legal seascape of areas within and beyond national jurisdiction”
Mr. Guillermo Ortuño Crespo, Duke University & NF-UBC Nereus Program: “Ecological connectivity: Implications for adjacency”
Dr. Autumn-Lynn Harrison, Smithsonian Institute, and Marjo Vierros, Shaw University: “Coastal communities, Traditional Knowledge and cultural connections to the High Sea”
Dr. Patrick N. Halpin, Duke University & NF-UBC Nereus Program
Ms. Kristina Gjerde, IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme & Middlebury Institute of International Studies

The fourth session of the Preparatory Committee on BBNJ will convene from 10 to 21 July 2017, in New York, US.