Instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of BBNJ
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Context: The United Nations is negotiating an international legally binding “instrument” to bring marine areas beyond national jurisdiction under common global management and monitoring.
More about news:
- The fourth meeting of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC-4) is convening under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to conclude a draft of the instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, also referred to as BBNJ.
- BBNJ encompasses the high seas, beyond the exclusive economic zones or national waters of countries, these areas account for almost half of the Earth’s surface and are hardly regulated.
- Marine Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ), commonly called the high seas, are those areas of ocean for which no one nation has sole responsibility for management.
- This new agreement on BBJN has been under negotiation for the last 20 years. The current meeting is expected to finalise the draft for signing.
- The negotiated agreement has five aspects:
- environmental impact assessments for activities taken up on high seas
- conservation of marine genetic resources and
- capacity building
- technology transfer
- cross-cutting issues such as institutional structure and financial support.
- IGC-4 opened discussions revolves around four elements related to EIAs:
- Thresholds and criteria of the ecosystems
- the need for separate EIA considerations for marine areas identified as ecologically or biologically significant or vulnerable
- public notification and consultation and
- decision making
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