General Assembly that it should develop an international legally binding instrument
on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas
beyond national jurisdiction under the Convention on the Law of the Sea (United
Nations General Assembly 2015). This ad hoc group also recommended that:
[. . .] negotiations shall address the topics identified in the package agreed in 2011, namely
the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national
jurisdiction, in particular, together and as a whole, marine genetic resources, including
questions on the sharing of benefits, measures such as area-based management tools,
including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments and capacity building
and the transfer of marine technology.
Although this list of items is not considered to describe limits on the scope of
future negotiations, it is rather discouraging that the term “ecosystem services” is not
mentioned anywhere in the recommendation. The UN process should pay more
attention to the conservation of ecosystem services and cultural aspects in coastal
regions through the future legally binding instrument. To this end, nonfishing threats
to marine ecosystems, such as climate change, land-based pollution such as plastic
waste, or other human activities also need to be addressed.
It should be noted that some management practices in coastal areas involve the
maintenance of ecosystem services. For instance, Japanese coastal fishery management organizations often initiate tree-planting activities in the upstream area of
rivers, considering the connections of land and sea ecosystems (healthy material
inflow to the ocean) in an effort to conserve its tenure areas in coastal territorial
use-rights fisheries (Yagi et al. 2010). Such systems function because the purpose
and the goal are shared by the local stakeholders. Incentives (rights-based management) and the need for penalties (peer sanctions) are well recognized by the
communities concerned. This can be interpreted as an economic-based solution
combined with legally binding instruments that help to secure the rights of resource
users.
If a global system for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological
diversity is to be created beyond areas of national jurisdiction, the first step would be
to set a well-defined goal for the conservation efforts and seek stakeholder involvement toward achieving this goal. Stakeholders may wish to consider the use of
economic instruments, such as payment for the ecosystem services, to achieve the
goal if it is connected to the conservation or enhancement of cultural benefits to the
people.
Acknowledgments The work of Wakita et al. was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI (Grant
number 4403) “New Ocean Paradigm on its Biogeochemistry, Ecosystem and Sustainable Use”
(NEOPS). This is a 5-year project launched in 2012 to advance our understanding of ocean
biogeochemistry and ecosystem dynamics in the Pacific Ocean for the sustainable use of ecosystem
services, with attention to the high seas.
7 Human Utility of Marine Ecosystem Services and Behavioral Intentions for. . .
133
on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas
beyond national jurisdiction under the Convention on the Law of the Sea (United
Nations General Assembly 2015). This ad hoc group also recommended that:
[. . .] negotiations shall address the topics identified in the package agreed in 2011, namely
the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national
jurisdiction, in particular, together and as a whole, marine genetic resources, including
questions on the sharing of benefits, measures such as area-based management tools,
including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments and capacity building
and the transfer of marine technology.
Although this list of items is not considered to describe limits on the scope of
future negotiations, it is rather discouraging that the term “ecosystem services” is not
mentioned anywhere in the recommendation. The UN process should pay more
attention to the conservation of ecosystem services and cultural aspects in coastal
regions through the future legally binding instrument. To this end, nonfishing threats
to marine ecosystems, such as climate change, land-based pollution such as plastic
waste, or other human activities also need to be addressed.
It should be noted that some management practices in coastal areas involve the
maintenance of ecosystem services. For instance, Japanese coastal fishery management organizations often initiate tree-planting activities in the upstream area of
rivers, considering the connections of land and sea ecosystems (healthy material
inflow to the ocean) in an effort to conserve its tenure areas in coastal territorial
use-rights fisheries (Yagi et al. 2010). Such systems function because the purpose
and the goal are shared by the local stakeholders. Incentives (rights-based management) and the need for penalties (peer sanctions) are well recognized by the
communities concerned. This can be interpreted as an economic-based solution
combined with legally binding instruments that help to secure the rights of resource
users.
If a global system for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological
diversity is to be created beyond areas of national jurisdiction, the first step would be
to set a well-defined goal for the conservation efforts and seek stakeholder involvement toward achieving this goal. Stakeholders may wish to consider the use of
economic instruments, such as payment for the ecosystem services, to achieve the
goal if it is connected to the conservation or enhancement of cultural benefits to the
people.
Acknowledgments The work of Wakita et al. was supported by the JSPS KAKENHI (Grant
number 4403) “New Ocean Paradigm on its Biogeochemistry, Ecosystem and Sustainable Use”
(NEOPS). This is a 5-year project launched in 2012 to advance our understanding of ocean
biogeochemistry and ecosystem dynamics in the Pacific Ocean for the sustainable use of ecosystem
services, with attention to the high seas.
7 Human Utility of Marine Ecosystem Services and Behavioral Intentions for. . .
133