The Sargasso Sea Commission: An Evolving New Paradigm for High Seas Ecosystem Governance?

Freestone, David

doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.668253

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Against this background is it possible to make an assessment of the extent to which the 2012 identification of the Sargasso Sea as an EBSA has assisted the Sargasso Sea Commission with its goal of putting conservation measures in place for the Sargasso Sea though collaboration with the existing sectoral organizations. Others have reviewed the work of the Commissionand its predecessor the SSAsince 2010 (Freestone, 2016;Freestone, 2021;Gjerde and Varmer, 2021).…”

Section: The Impact Of the Sargasso Sea Ebsa Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The UN Development Programme (UNDP)will act as the implementing agency and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO will be the executing agency. The final documentation was approved in May 2022 and work will start later in the second half of 2022 (Freestone, 2021). The Summary Science Case (Laffoley et al, 2011), the successful EBSA proposal (CBD, 2012b) and the two UN World Ocean Assessments (Freestone et al, 2016b;Roe et al, 2021) constitute an important baseline for the forthcoming work.…”

Section: Looking Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since 2014 five more governments have signed the Declaration bringing the total number of Government Signatories to ten -British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, and Canada in 2016, Cayman Islands in 2017, and Dominican Republic in 2018. The Commission replaces the role of the SSA and continues to work for the conservation of this unique high-seas ecosystem (Freestone, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Sargasso Sea High Seas EBSA After Ten Years: Is It Still Relevant and How Has It Helped Conservation Efforts?

2022

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The Sargasso Sea is a high seas ecosystem located within the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. The floating Sargassum macroalgae for which it is named support a diverse and productive ocean ecosystem. The floating mats and windrows of Sargassum house distinct communities of animals including endemic species, and provide shelter, nursery areas and food for many others including juvenile turtles, fish, and birds. A decade ago, in 2012, the two million square mile core area of the Sargasso Sea was “described” by the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as an Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area (EBSA), having scored highly on six of the seven designated criteria. At the time it was the largest high seas EBSA to be so described. This paper reviews the scientific evidence supporting the finding that it meets the rigorous criteria for an EBSA and assesses whether there have been major changes in the decade since. It puts this in the context of the work of the Sargasso Sea Commission and the Hamilton Declaration Signatories to “conserve the Sargasso Sea for the benefit of present and future generations” and assesses the extent to which being an EBSA has assisted with these conservation efforts.

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Section: The Impact Of the Sargasso Sea Ebsa Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Looking Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Sargasso Sea High Seas EBSA After Ten Years: Is It Still Relevant and How Has It Helped Conservation Efforts?

2022

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“…Despite these challenges, the LME-approach may offer a valuable model for advancing ecosystem-based management at a bio-regional scale entirely within or including ABNJ, if prior LME-specific and wider polycentricity lessons are applied. The first experiment with an LME-style project for ABNJ is now underway in the Sargasso Sea as the GEF has recently approved a project for improving science-based management and stewardship in the region (Freestone, 2021).…”

Section: Large Marine Ecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polycentricity and Regional Ocean Governance: Implications for the Emerging UN Agreement on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction

Gjerde

Yadav

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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The governance of the two-thirds of the world’s ocean in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the high seas and deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction or ABNJ) is currently fragmented into diverse institutions addressing specific activities, issues or regions. This has hampered the international community’s ability to redress critical issues including biodiversity loss, pollution, climate change, ecosystem degradation and declining fisheries in an integrated and ecosystem-based manner. Our analysis of polycentricity theory and associated enabling conditions shows that the current polycentric approach to marine biodiversity in ABNJ is not yet fully functional: it is missing the two key attributes of: (1) generally applicable rules and norms structuring actions and behaviors, and (2) processes to enhance cooperation, coordination, and conflict resolution. Based on the enabling conditions conducive for achieving “a functional polycentric governance system” identified in Carlisle and Gruby (2019), combined with a prior analysis applying resilience principles for socio-ecological systems to ABNJ (Yadav and Gjerde, 2020), this article suggests seven ways the emerging United Nations agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of ABNJ (BBNJ Agreement) could stimulate coordinated and integrated action at both global and regional levels in ABNJ. These include: (1) overarching rules, goals and objectives; (2) formal and informal conflict resolution mechanisms; (3) robust global institutional arrangements; (4) strengthened global, regional and sectoral bodies with shared and overlapping responsibility for biodiversity conservation; (5) strengthened cooperation through integrated ecosystem assessments and strategic action programmes at ecologically meaningful scales that could include areas within and beyond national jurisdiction; (6) learning exchange mechanisms within and across regions; and (7) strengthened regional and national capacities for ecosystem-based management in ABNJ. Taken together, these tools could enhance the resilience of ocean institutions, ecosystems and biodiversity to cope with growing pressures, uncertainty and rapid change in ABNJ.

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“…Organizing such bodies will prove challenging. However, the example of the Sargasso Sea Commission shows that some progress can be made by relying upon several entities to fulfill different parts of an overall mandate (Freestone, 2016(Freestone, , 2021.…”

Section: Role For Regional Organizationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unity or Fragmentation in the Deep Blue: Choices in Institutional Design for Marine Biological Diversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

Berry

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Delegations are in the final stages of negotiating the proposed Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement or Agreement). The Agreement will have tremendous scope. Geographically it covers all ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction, meaning approximately 60 percent of the earth’s surface. Substantively it deals with a range of complex topics necessary for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, including marine genetic resources, sharing of benefits, measures such as area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments and capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology. Existing scholarship primarily explores the substantive choices for the Agreement; little examines its proposed institutional structure. This article critically assesses the competing positions advanced during negotiations for the Agreement’s institutional structure – the ‘global’ and ‘regional’ positions – and reviews the middle, or ‘compromise’ position adopted by the draft text. It suggests that both global and regional actors will be necessary to conserve and sustainably use marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and that some form of coordinating mechanism is required to allocate responsibility for particular tasks. Two principles are proposed for use in combination to provide a mechanism to help coordinate Agreement organs (global) and regional or sectoral bodies, namely, the principles of subsidiarity and cooperation. These principles are found in existing international and regional structures but are advanced here in dynamic forms, allowing for temporary or quasi-permanent allocation of competences, which can change or evolve over time. This position is also grounded in the international law of treaties and furthers dynamic views of regional and global ocean governance by offering practical coordinating principles that work with the existing Agreement text.

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The Sargasso Sea Commission: An Evolving New Paradigm for High Seas Ecosystem Governance?

Cited by 5 publications

References 22 publications

The Sargasso Sea High Seas EBSA After Ten Years: Is It Still Relevant and How Has It Helped Conservation Efforts?

The Sargasso Sea High Seas EBSA After Ten Years: Is It Still Relevant and How Has It Helped Conservation Efforts?

Polycentricity and Regional Ocean Governance: Implications for the Emerging UN Agreement on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction

Unity or Fragmentation in the Deep Blue: Choices in Institutional Design for Marine Biological Diversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

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