Chapter 19
Three Structural Pillars of the Future
International Legally Binding Instrument
on the Conservation and Sustainable Use
of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond
National Jurisdiction
Catherine Blanchard, Otto Spijkers, and Wen Duan
Abstract The Intergovernmental Conference on marine biodiversity of areas
beyond national jurisdiction has started its work on the development of an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on the conservation and sustainable use of
such biodiversity. The negotiations on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) will therefore further evolve within this new stage of the process. Based
on a role-playing game conducted with students of the master’s in public international law at Utrecht University, this chapter looks at how the regulation for marine
biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction could unfold by analysing three
structural aspects of the development of the ILBI. First, as the ILBI is to be developed
as an agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the first
substantive section focuses on the relationship between the two treaties (Sect. 2). The
next section looks at biodiversity itself, through the relationship between the Convention on Biological Diversity and the ILBI, notably on how the instruments could
complement one another in areas beyond national jurisdiction (Sect. 3). Finally, the
last substantive section assesses the character of the ILBI, to see whether institutional
arrangements should be rooted in a global, region/sectoral and/or hybrid
approach (Sect. 4). These three issues form, in our view, the three pillars of the
structural development and practical significance of the ILBI.
While the authors share collective responsibility for this chapter, Otto Spijkers was the lead author
of Sect. 2, Catherine Blanchard of Sect. 3, and Wen Duan of Sect. 4.
C. Blanchard (*) · W. Duan
Utrecht University, Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea, Utrecht Centre for Water,
Oceans and Sustainability Law, Utrecht, The Netherlands
e-mail: c.blanchard@uu.nl; w.duan@uu.nl
O. Spijkers
Wuhan University, China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies (CIBOS), Wuhan, Hubei,
China
e-mail: O.Spijkers@uu.nl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. C. Ribeiro et al. (eds.), Global Challenges and the Law of the Sea,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42671-2_19
351
Three Structural Pillars of the Future
International Legally Binding Instrument
on the Conservation and Sustainable Use
of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond
National Jurisdiction
Catherine Blanchard, Otto Spijkers, and Wen Duan
Abstract The Intergovernmental Conference on marine biodiversity of areas
beyond national jurisdiction has started its work on the development of an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on the conservation and sustainable use of
such biodiversity. The negotiations on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) will therefore further evolve within this new stage of the process. Based
on a role-playing game conducted with students of the master’s in public international law at Utrecht University, this chapter looks at how the regulation for marine
biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction could unfold by analysing three
structural aspects of the development of the ILBI. First, as the ILBI is to be developed
as an agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the first
substantive section focuses on the relationship between the two treaties (Sect. 2). The
next section looks at biodiversity itself, through the relationship between the Convention on Biological Diversity and the ILBI, notably on how the instruments could
complement one another in areas beyond national jurisdiction (Sect. 3). Finally, the
last substantive section assesses the character of the ILBI, to see whether institutional
arrangements should be rooted in a global, region/sectoral and/or hybrid
approach (Sect. 4). These three issues form, in our view, the three pillars of the
structural development and practical significance of the ILBI.
While the authors share collective responsibility for this chapter, Otto Spijkers was the lead author
of Sect. 2, Catherine Blanchard of Sect. 3, and Wen Duan of Sect. 4.
C. Blanchard (*) · W. Duan
Utrecht University, Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea, Utrecht Centre for Water,
Oceans and Sustainability Law, Utrecht, The Netherlands
e-mail: c.blanchard@uu.nl; w.duan@uu.nl
O. Spijkers
Wuhan University, China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies (CIBOS), Wuhan, Hubei,
China
e-mail: O.Spijkers@uu.nl
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. C. Ribeiro et al. (eds.), Global Challenges and the Law of the Sea,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42671-2_19
351