Practical policy solutions for the final stage of BBNJ treaty negotiations

Humphries, Fran; Harden‐Davies, Harriet

doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2020.104214

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…conservation measures implemented through Regional Fisheries Management Organisations), there remain significant gaps in legal and management arrangements for biodiversity conservation in these regions. Negotiations are currently underway with a focus on developing an international legally binding treaty on marine Biodiversity in areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (the BBNJ Treaty) (Ban et al 2014 ; Humphries and Harden-Davies 2020 ). Once finalised, this will go some way to filling such governance gaps.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safeguarding marine life: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems

Ward

Melbourne‐Thomas

Pecl

et al. 2022

Rev Fish Biol Fisheries

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Marine ecosystems and their associated biodiversity sustain life on Earth and hold intrinsic value. Critical marine ecosystem services include maintenance of global oxygen and carbon cycles, production of food and energy, and sustenance of human wellbeing. However marine ecosystems are swiftly being degraded due to the unsustainable use of marine environments and a rapidly changing climate. The fundamental challenge for the future is therefore to safeguard marine ecosystem biodiversity, function, and adaptive capacity whilst continuing to provide vital resources for the global population. Here, we use foresighting/hindcasting to consider two plausible futures towards 2030: a business-as-usual trajectory (i.e. continuation of current trends), and a more sustainable but technically achievable future in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We identify key drivers that differentiate these alternative futures and use these to develop an action pathway towards the desirable, more sustainable future. Key to achieving the more sustainable future will be establishing integrative (i.e. across jurisdictions and sectors), adaptive management that supports equitable and sustainable stewardship of marine environments. Conserving marine ecosystems will require recalibrating our social, financial, and industrial relationships with the marine environment. While a sustainable future requires long-term planning and commitment beyond 2030, immediate action is needed to avoid tipping points and avert trajectories of ecosystem decline. By acting now to optimise management and protection of marine ecosystems, building upon existing technologies, and conserving the remaining biodiversity, we can create the best opportunity for a sustainable future in 2030 and beyond.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Safeguarding marine life: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems

Ward

Melbourne‐Thomas

Pecl

et al. 2022

Rev Fish Biol Fisheries

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“…However, it also left many issues unaddressed. Despite creating an obligation on all States to protect and preserve the marine environment, UNCLOS contained few mechanisms to address threats other than pollution in high sea areas (Humphries and Harden-Davies, 2020). While a "fragmented system" of global sectoral bodies for shipping (the International Maritime Organization; IMO), seabed mining (the International Seabed Authority; ISA), Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs), Regional Seas Programmes, and regional treaties exists, these institutions are largely activityspecific, regional or sectoral in nature, operate independently with limited coordination and cooperation, and/or consider conservation as a secondary priority (Freestone, 2018;Gjerde et al, 2019;Hammond and Jones, 2021).…”

Section: The Bbnj Treaty In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

The diverse benefits of biodiversity conservation in global ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction

et al. 2022

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The end of the long and winding road towards a milestone new treaty focused on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) is near. The BBNJ treaty has the potential to dramatically transform environmental stewardship in the high seas, making it essential that vigorous support towards a strong treaty continues, without weakening the agreement’s full potential. Historically, the dialogue surrounding the BBNJ negotiations has focused on the agreement’s environmental and conservation-related impacts. Here, we begin to highlight the many diplomatic, economic, and social benefits of a vigorous and equitable BBNJ treaty. We found that strong support for the BBNJ treaty could strengthen multilateral institutions and bolster international cooperation towards common environmental goals. It could also enhance the health of shared marine ecosystems and resources and drive truly sustainable ocean-based economic growth. Finally, the treaty provides an opportunity to engage equity as a key principle, to begin tackling global ocean inequalities in a meaningful way. Together, we find that the new treaty has the potential for widespread and diverse benefits for all member nations. It is past time for the international community to address the global governance gap in the high seas in an ambitious and equitable manner.

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“…If from the latter, that state regulates access to those genetic resources within their domestic laws either through laws imposing ABS obligations or open access and use (no regulation). Even genetic resources obtained from the high seas in areas beyond jurisdiction may not be exempt from ABS obligations for much longer, with negotiations at the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) likely to implement benefit‐sharing obligations for the use of marine genetic resources (Humphries & Harden‐Davies, 2020). All of this is to say that even with extensive modification and human intervention, the DNA componentry (bioparts) used in synthetic biology could be traced back to a physical genetic resource (see Section 4), the use of which potentially falls within the positive obligations of international or national ABS laws.…”

Section: Digital Sequence Information: Bioparts For Plant Synthetic Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Access and benefit‐sharing DNA Componentry for plant synthetic biology: Bioparts expressed in plant chassis

Rourke

2021

Plants People Planet

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Societal Impact Statement The “Parts Agenda” is an approach to synthetic biology that fragments genetic resources into functional bioparts to help design and build biological devices and systems. Access and benefit‐sharing (ABS), and the issue of how to regulate digital sequence information (DSI) within the current ABS regime, poses a problem for synthetic biology because it assumes fragmented and abstracted bioparts can be traced to their country of origin for the purposes of benefit‐sharing, and that contributions to information and knowledge can be quantified and appropriately valued. Any DSI regulatory solutions should account for genetic resource fragmentation and other complexities of modern scientific practice. Summary The inclusion of digital sequence information (DSI, including genetic sequence data) in the existing access and benefit‐sharing (ABS) regime will alter the practice of synthetic biology. The potential impediments could be magnified for the “Parts Agenda”: the approach to synthetic biology that fragments genetic resources into their smallest functional units to create standardized, interchangeable “bioparts”, the building blocks for assembling synthetic biological devices. These biological devices are themselves interchangeable and can be used to engineer higher order synthetic biological systems. This article examines how the extension of ABS laws to include DSI could foreseeably apply to the creation and use of plant‐derived and other bioparts in engineered biological devices expressed in plant chassis. The article demonstrates that ABS issues will be similar for all approaches to synthetic biology, but that the Parts Agenda is uniquely exposed to the potential regulatory burden of bilateral ABS transactions between users and providers of genetic resources. The original vision for bioparts was one of openness and sharing, with access and use unencumbered by intellectual property. This article shows that open access to bioparts will not last long if DSI is enclosed within the current ABS regime, destabilizing the values of openness and sharing in synthetic biology that are ostensibly foundational to this still developing field.

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Practical policy solutions for the final stage of BBNJ treaty negotiations

Cited by 21 publications

References 28 publications

Safeguarding marine life: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems

Safeguarding marine life: conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems

The diverse benefits of biodiversity conservation in global ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction

Access and benefit‐sharing DNA Componentry for plant synthetic biology: Bioparts expressed in plant chassis

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