Identifying new pathways for ocean governance: The role of legal principles in areas beyond national jurisdiction

Katherine Houghton

Marine Policy, 2014, vol. 49, issue C, 118-126

Abstract: This paper seeks to illustrate the role of principles in an emerging regime for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). While certainly not a standalone solution for a complex issue, principles nonetheless serve an essential function in regime-building, bridging legal and governance processes to identify new ways forward. Given the fundamental questions of international law at hand – the restriction of the freedoms of the high seas, the nature of UNCLOS as a “living instrument” and the need to engage in innovative practice spanning law and governance – it comes as no surprise that discussions on the future of ABNJ have been highly polarized. Principles offer points of convergence to address both the “regulatory gaps” and “implementation gaps” identified and serve the structural needs of both law and governance to produce dynamic change in the protection of marine biodiversity in ABNJ. Through their function as precursors to rules, principles prepare a common space for the emergence of a regime and give it a set of mechanisms through which it can strengthen its connections to the diversity of instruments and institutions involved in addressing a multifaceted problem. A statement of principles to strengthen the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ – many of which constitute customary international law – would therefore be a logical and constructive next step in this on-going process.

Keywords: Areas beyond national jurisdiction; UNCLOS; Legal principles; High seas; BBNJ Working Group; Biodiversity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X14001298
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:marpol:v:49:y:2014:i:c:p:118-126

DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2014.04.007

Access Statistics for this article

Marine Policy is currently edited by Eddie Brown

More articles in Marine Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().