Experts providing advice to Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In a meeting on biological diversity on the high seas, scientists and other actors gave valuable advice to representatives from Norway鈥檚 Ministry of Foreign Affairs before final negotiations on regulation of natural resources outside of national jurisdiction.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) visited the University of Bergen (UiB) for advice from researchers and various organisations on the so-called BBNJ negotiations, which are now entering the final phase. BBNJ is short for biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction and builds on the Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
MFA wants broad input
鈥淣orway鈥檚聽BBNJ delegation has established a reference group, composed of relevant researchers and interested parties from industry, civil society and other societal actors to gather broad input to this process,鈥� says Professor聽Sigrid Eskeland Sch眉tz聽from UiB鈥檚 Faculty of Law.
She is an expert in marine management, especially coastal zone management, and has worked in this field both nationally and internationally for a number of years.
When the reference group met researchers in Bergen, it was the third and final meeting of its kind after similar meetings in Oslo and Troms酶 previously.
鈥淭he meetings all had an open session first, where the delegation informed the participants about the negotiations, and a second session focussing on certain topics in the negotiations,鈥� says Sch眉tz, 鈥渋n the open section in Bergen, Secretary of State Jens Fr酶lich Holte informed on Norway鈥檚 main priorities in the negotiations and Kjell Kristian Egge (MFA鈥檚 Special Adviser on International Law in the Ministry) on the status before the next round of negotiations.鈥�
A wide range of questions
According to the law professor, the second session in Bergen focussed on marine management, where questions such as these were discussed:聽How to ensure that knowledge is emphasised in a global organisation? How to prevent research from being politicised? Will the establishment of a scientific committee promote knowledge-based marine management? Can we draw from experiences in other forums?聽And about impact assessments:聽Is the drafts decisions on impact assessments appropriate?
The meeting finished with input, questions and views from participating actors, including Fiskeb氓t (Norway鈥檚 marine fishing fleet organisation), Norwegian Shipowners鈥� Association and Greenpeace, to name a few.
At present, there are still plenty of loose ends in the negotiations on the high seas, which was pointed out by several of the attending parties.
鈥淭he debate touched upon what position different state actors have on central parts of suggested measures. There were even questions as to whether a comprehensive agreement can be reached at all. Yet there was also emphasis that if certain key issues are agreed upon, it may not matter that there are many alternatives on minor issues, as these may be resolved if major issues are in place,鈥� says Sch眉tz.
Diversity in input
The input from participants in the meeting were wide-reaching and diverse, according to the law professor.
鈥淓verything from experience with ways to organise marine research and knowledge in different organisations to ways of securing indigenous knowledge, with the potential to verify scientific knowledge, in the processes,鈥� says Sch眉tz, 鈥渢here were also views on expedient ways of organising work on impact assessments, whether it should be the flag carrying nation that carries out these or the state where the operating company is registered or a specially appointed authority.鈥�
Sch眉tz also contributed with a suggestion based on her own research in marine management.
鈥淪everal participants more than indicated that the draft is weak in terms of strategic impact assessments and that the outlined rules can turn out very differently across legislatures. This is illustrated by two possible alternative scenarios, based on a selection of proposals for impact assessments in the draft treaty.鈥�
To close the meeting, MFA鈥檚 Kjell Kristian Egge, on behalf of the negotiating delegation, thanked the research community for input and underlined the importance of being able to draw on a larger community in the work to secure a BBNJ agreement.
Virtual centre for a sustainable ocean
Professor Sigrid Sch眉tz is part of聽Ocean Sustainability Bergen, a virtual centre in sustainable ocean research at the University of Bergen. The centre is host for the university鈥檚 SDG14 assignments with United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and the International Association of Universities (IAU).
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