Marine protected areas in areas beyond national jurisdiction: The state of play

Un article [en anglais] consacré aux aires marines protégées situées au-delà des juridictions nationales.

Points-clés [en anglais] :

AN EFFICIENT TOOL TO PROTECT MARINE BIODIVERSITY
As the threats against marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction are growing, with the expansion of traditional activities such as navigation or fishing and the emergence of new threats linked for example to bioprospection ocean acidification, the establishment of marine protected areas is seen as an efficient tool to protect this fragile environment. In 2010, the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity agreed that a network of marine protected areas covering 10% of the oceans should be established by 2020.

THE NEED FOR A GLOBAL FRAMEWORK
At the international level, discussions on the establishment of a legal framework for the creation and management of marine protected areas in areas beyond national jurisdiction are taking place between the parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in working groups established by the United Nations General Assembly and between the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The need for an implementing agreement to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has been underlined by various stakeholders, but negotiations on this issue are likely to be long and painful, as States do not agree on their final outcomes.

THE REGIONAL INITIATIVES
At the same time, some initiatives are taken within the framework of regional seas conventions such as OSPAR, the CCAMLR or the Barcelona Convention or even outside this framework, as it is the case for the Sargasso Sea Initiative. These pioneering initiatives are helpful but also raise a number of questions, inherent to the very limits of the regional framework such as the issue of third States and of free riders States. In this fragmented regional framework, efficient coordination and cooperation between all the competent authorities will also be of uttermost importance.