An inter-disciplinary team from the University of Aberdeen hosted a two day workshop to help build consensus on pragmatic approaches to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
The Marine Biodiscovery Centre, Department of Chemistry, School of Law and School of Biological Sciences co-hosted a workshop involving academics, diplomats, and government and EU policy makers and NGOs from across the globe to discuss the issues around the governance of marine biodiscovery in areas beyond national jurisdiction and how benefits arising from this may be shared.
Marine biodiscovery is the search for marine-derived natural products which may have commercial applications. It is an area of science generating much interest regarding the need for new governance mechanisms under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (commonly termed BBNJ/ABNJ). This workshop's key focus was to explore a pragmatic solution in the context of an Intergovernmental Conference at the UN in September 2018
The key topics that were debated were:
•Using the ‘Mare Geneticum’ building blocks to show how a regime built on good scientific practice and prior notification could work.
•How inclusive innovation can allow all parties to benefit from BBNJ. This includes aspects of open access linked to capacity building, technology transfer and benefit sharing.
•Illustrating how these potential approaches are consistent with established principles of international law, and provisions of UNCLOS applicable to ABNJ and the high sea.
The output of the meeting will be a report of the discussions under the Chatham House Rule.
The following delegates attended:
| Prof Marcel Jaspars | University of Aberdeen – Marine Biodiscovery Centre |
| Dr Rainer Ebel | University of Aberdeen – Marine Biodiscovery Centre |
| Prof Frithjof Kuepper | University of Aberdeen – OceanLab |
| Prof Ursula Witte | University of Aberdeen – OceanLab |
| Prof Abbe Brown | University of Aberdeen – School of Law |
| Anne-Michelle Slater | University of Aberdeen – School of Law |
| Marianthi Pappa | University of Aberdeen – School of Law (Rapporteur) |
| Dr Thomas Vanagt | ECoast – Oostende, Belgium |
| Jane Collins | ECoast – Oostende, Belgium (Rapporteur) |
| John Brincat | Ocean Governance, Law of the Sea & Arctic Policy for the EuropeanCommission Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries |
| Ambassador Janine Coye-Felson | MGR Working Group Leader, BBNJ PrepCom, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Belize to the United Nations |
| Piotr Czepulonis | Legal and Treaty Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland |
| Jessica Dark | DEFRA, UK |
| Tekau Frere | Islands First |
| Lowri Mai Griffiths | Head of the Maritime Policy Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, UK |
| Dr Anne Emmanuelle Kervella | EMBRC-EMBRIC (EMBRC-FRANCE) |
| James Luger | Geography Department, University of St Andrews, UK (Rapporteur) |
| Emad Morcos Mattar | irst Secretary, Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations |
| Kate Neilson | Legal Counsel and Second Secretary, New Zealand Permanent Mission to the United Nations |
| Dr Ian Probert | Roscoff Culture Collection Director, Station Biologique de Roscoff, France. |
| Allison Reed | Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, United States Department of State, Washington DC, USA |
| Mehdi Remaoun | First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Algeria to the United Nations |
| Alex Rogers | Zoology Department, University of Oxford, UK |
| Dr Siva Thambisetty | Intellectual Property Law, London School of Economics, UK |
| Torsten Thiele | London School of Economics, UK & Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Potsdam, Germany |