Background Release

General Assembly Working Group to Study Conservation, Sustainable Use

 

of Marine Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdictions, 1-5 February

 

NEW YORK, 29 January (Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea) -- A Working Group established by the United Nations General Assembly will meet from 1 to 5 February in New York to consider how to continue and strengthen efforts aimed at the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction.

Taking place at the onset of the International Year of Biodiversity, the Working Group is uniquely placed to review the progress made from a cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary perspective, and identify what additional actions need to be taken at various levels.

The one-week meeting is tasked with surveying the past and present activities of the United Nations and relevant international organizations; examining their scientific, technical, economic, legal, environmental, socio-economic and other aspects; identifying key issues and questions where more detailed background studies would facilitate consideration of the issue by States; and indicating, where appropriate, possible options and approaches for action.  At its sixty-fourth session, the General Assembly also requested that a number of issues should receive particular attention during the deliberations, including the legal regime for marine genetic resources beyond areas of national jurisdiction, environmental impact assessments and marine protected areas.

For the first time since its establishment in 2004, the Working Group is mandated to provide recommendations to the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session.  The Assembly set up the Working Group in response to growing interest and concerns within the international community about issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity, both within and beyond areas of national jurisdiction.

As noted in the Secretary-General’s report (document A/64/66/Add.2), marine biodiversity plays an important role in healthy functioning marine ecosystems, economic prosperity, global food security and sustainable livelihoods.  At the same time, numerous factors continue to put essential marine ecosystems at risk, including limited, albeit expanding, knowledge of the richness and resilience of biodiversity in some areas of the oceans; absence of regular monitoring programmes; limited capacity to implement and enforce relevant instruments; divergent views on marine genetic resources beyond areas of national jurisdiction; difficulties in implementing integrated ocean management, ecosystem approaches and other management tools, owing, in particular, to limited cross-sectoral cooperation at all levels; and lack of global policy guidance on some issues.

Meeting for the first time in February 2006, the Working Group agreed that the General Assembly had a primary role in addressing the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction, while also recognizing the essential role of other organizations, processes and instruments within their respective competence.  The Working Group also reiterated that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea sets out the legal framework for all activities in oceans and seas, and stressed the need to implement precautionary and ecosystem approaches, using the best available science and prior environmental impact assessments.

The Working Group’s 2008 meeting focused on the environmental impacts of anthropogenic activities on marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction; coordination and cooperation among States as well as relevant intergovernmental organizations and bodies for the conservation and management of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction; the role of area-based management tools; genetic resources beyond areas of national jurisdiction; and whether there was a governance or regulatory gap, and if so, how it should be addressed.

A number of proposals were made to address the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction in the short, medium and longer term.

Background

Biodiversity is the variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part.  That includes diversity within and between species, and diversity of ecosystems (Convention on Biological Diversity, article 2).  The diversity among biological resources, which include genetic resources, organisms or parts thereof, populations or any other biotic component of ecosystems with actual or potential use or value for humanity, makes up biodiversity.

Marine areas beyond national jurisdiction comprise the high seas and the Area, defined as “the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction” (article 1).  The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea defines the high seas as “all parts of the sea that are not included in the exclusive economic zone, in the territorial sea or in the internal waters of a State, or in the archipelagic waters of an archipelagic State” (article 86).

Relevant Documents

General Assembly resolutions A/RES/59/24, A/RES/60/30, A/RES/61/222, A/RES/62/215, A/RES/63/111 and A/RES/64/71; reports of the Secretary-General: documents A/60/63/Add.1; A/62/66/Add.2; A/64/66/Add.2; the provisional agenda of the meeting, document A/AC/276/L.3; the draft format and draft annotated provisional agenda and organization of work, document A/AC/276/L.4; and outcomes of the previous meetings of the Working Group, document A/61/65; A/63/79.

For additional information, please visit the website of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs at www.un.org/Depts/los/index.htm.

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For information media • not an official record