Marine biodiversity is affected
by human activities on land, in the coastal zone
and further offshore. The
following main human activities may or do occur in
(marine) areas beyond national
jurisdiction (ABNJ; a term that is clarified further
below): marine capture fisheries,
navigation, marine scientific research,2
bioprospecting, 3 laying
submarine cables and pipelines, constructing artificial
islands and other installations,
ocean dumping, exploration and exploitation of
non-living resources, and overflight.4
But human activities on land and in the
coastal zone affect marine biodiversity in ABNJ as
well.
With regard to marine scientific
research and hydrographic research, reference
can be made to the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)
of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
and the International
Hydrographic Organization (IHO), respectively, even though
these do not have regulatory roles.i
Existing and New Rights to Conserve
Marine Biodiversity
Reforms of international law are
above all a matter of striking an acceptable
balance between opposing needs
and interests that exist at a given time in the
international community. A number
of acceptable balances must be struck to
successfully reform the
international legal framework relating to the conservation
and sustainable use of marine
biodiversity in ABNJ. At a high level,
reform is guided by the universal
but flexible goal of sustainable development
and thereby pursues an equitable
balance between socio-economic interests
and the interests in marine
biodiversity by present and future generations. As
reform should minimize
competition or overlap with existing legal regimes,
this balance includes an
equitable balance between new and existing legal
regimes at the global and regional level.
i
Cf. Arts. 2
and 3 of the IOC Statutes (revised in November 1999; available at
and Art. 2 of the Convention on
the International Hydrographic Organization (Monaco,
3 May 1967. In force 22 September
1970;
