High seas management and conservation: challenges and opportunities

Kristina M. Gjerde, Senior High Seas Advisor to IUCN-the International Union for Conservation of Nature

Are you interested in the future of nearly 50% of the planet? Come join this weekend workshop on managing the high seas and international seabed Area beyond national jurisdiction. Learn what is at stake and how you might contribute.

The high seas and international seabed Area are an important economic frontier, but so far have proven difficult to manage for the benefit of both present and future generations. Illegal fishing, over-fishing, and mounting pollution are undermining the health, resilience and productivity of marine ecosystems. After years of delay, deep seabed mining may soon become a major industrial activity while questions remain on how this remote activity can be effectively monitored and controlled.

Recent reports on the impacts of increasing CO2 emissions are worrying—warming temperatures, shifting currents, stratifying waters, and ocean acidification are changing ocean biology and chemistry, with potentially far-reaching consequences for human and marine life. This will present new challenges to ocean resource managers as single-species or single-sector approaches may no longer suffice.

Governments at the United Nations are currently debating whether to develop a new international agreement for marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Proponents of a new legal agreement say it is needed to create global mechanisms for establishing high seas MPAs, conducting environmental impact assessments, facilitating access and benefit sharing of marine genetic resources, and enhancing capacity building and transfer of technology, among other measures. Others say efforts should focus on improving the agreements and institutions already in place. A decision is to be made no later than August 2015.

This weekend workshop will explore the existing regime for high seas conservation and management, with the aim of identifying threats and weaknesses as well as strengths and opportunities for progress. Based on this knowledge base, workshop participants will debate the feasibility and potential content of a new international legal agreement for high seas biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. The results of our deliberations will directly feed into the deliberations at the United Nations.

The course will be taught by Kristina M. Gjerde who has been actively involved in the UN process and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Sargasso Sea Alliance, the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative and the High Seas Alliance.