Kristina Gjerde, Senior High
Seas Advisor, IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme reports on the
developments from the 11th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity in Hyderabad, India (8-19 October) - which last week took
an important step for the global ocean commons, the largest habitat for life on
Earth.
The 193
Parties to the Convention agreed to send key scientific information to the
United Nations describing specific places of “ecological or biological
significance” in the open ocean and deep sea, including the high seas and
seabed Area beyond national jurisdiction.
This information was compiled and selected by
intergovernmental experts at two workshops in the Western South Pacific and the
Wider Caribbean and Western Mid-Atlantic.
For the first time, scientists worked together to reveal predictable
habitats for whales, tuna and other highly migratory species in the open ocean
as well as fragile ecosystems such as hydrothermal vents in the deep sea. The results
of these two CBD-facilitated workshops were reviewed by the CBD’s science
advisory body in May. The reports reveal richly diverse and productive places
like the Sargasso Sea, the Tonga Trench and unique oceanic seamounts with
cold-water coral reefs. Many of these areas transcend national boundaries. Over
the next two years, workshops will cover all ocean basins.
However, the areas described by the scientific experts do
not trigger any automatic protection. And unlike national waters, there is
currently no international framework for the conservation and sustainable use
of biodiversity in the ocean beyond national jurisdiction.
To address this gap, many governments are calling for a new
legal instrument under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Law of the Sea Convention provides the overarching
legal framework for marine activities, but was developed years before the
concepts of biodiversity, ecosystem-based management or the precautionary
principle even existed. The need for a
new agreement under UNCLOS was hotly debated at Rio+20 in June of this year, and
governments finally agreed to take a decision on whether to proceed with a new
instrument by 2014 at the latest.
In the absence of such an agreement, it is up to the
national authorities and international bodies responsible for managing
fisheries or shipping or seabed mining to adopt measures that reflect the
special significance of these areas. Unfortunately, many of these international
organizations have yet properly to address biodiversity conservation beyond
national jurisdiction through measures such as impact assessments, marine
protected areas, no-take areas, gear restrictions, or discharge controls.
Other potentially valuable tools adopted by COP 11 are
voluntary guidelines on environmental impact assessments and strategic
environmental assessments for marine and coastal activities and environments. For the first time they provide specific
guidance on how to assess plans, policies and projects that may undermine
marine biodiversity including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
However, as with the new information on significant areas, these
guidelines provide no mechanism for global scrutiny or reporting on progress
that could serve to stimulate their implementation.
The United Nations General Assembly now has the opportunity
to welcome these tools and to signal their commitment to managing our global
ocean commons for the benefit of present and future generations. While forging ahead with discussions on a
possible new agreement, we need to urge governments and international bodies to
use the powers, information and tools we have today.
Further reaction from Kristina Gjerde in Hyderabad
Photo courtesy of $udhakar via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Photo courtesy of $udhakar via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
