International Law and Marine Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Reflections on Justice, Space, Knowledge and Power

Abstract

The legal regime of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) has received much attention in the last decade. Currently, the issue is primarily considered at the intergovernmental conference convened by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to negotiate the agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of ABNJ. This process was initiated under the aegis of the UNGA in the early 2000s and is also referred to as the BBNJ process. The negotiating agenda is comprised of four main items: area-based management tools (ABMTs), including marine protected areas (MPAs); marine genetic resources, including the sharing of benefits arising from their utilization; environmental impact assessments; and capacity building and technological transfer. While touching upon the negotiating agenda of the BBNJ process, the book casts a significantly wider net by reflecting on broader theoretical questions, and questions that are not explicitly on that agenda but are nonetheless important for understanding the challenges that the legal regime for ABNJ may pose to the law of the sea. Accordingly, the 12 substantive chapters in the book address theoretical questions as well as more specific practical problems related to the governance of the ABNJ. The chapters all pick up the four overarching themes of the project that resulted in this edited volume: justice, space, knowledge, and power. These themes also provide the core of the concluding chapter prepared by the editors.