New frontiers in ocean environmental governance: Private actors, public goods
| Author | Beatriz Martinez Romera,Katrina M. Wyman |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12314 |
| Published date | 01 November 2019 |
| Date | 01 November 2019 |
RECIEL. 2019;28:233–235.
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wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel
DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12314
EDITORIAL
New frontiers in ocean environmental governance: Private
actors, public goods
The conserv ation and sustainable us e of the oceans is a key priority
on the internati onal agenda. In June 2017, the United Nations (UN)
Conference ‘Ou r Oceans, Our Future’ was he ld in New York to foster
the implement ation of the UN 2030 Ag enda for Sustainab le
Development1 and, in particular, Sustainable Development Goal 14
related to the ocea ns,2 adopted in 2015. A s highlighted in the UN
General As sembly Resolution ‘O ur Ocean, Our Future: C all for
Action’,3 ‘our ocean is critica l to our shared future and c ommon
humanity in all its di versity’.4
However, notwithst anding the attenti on that the oceans are receiving
in internationa l forums, the oceans re main threatened by many f actors in-
cluding climate change, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, overfishing,
pollution fro m shipping, offshor e energy produc tion and marine debri s
and plastics.5 Against this background, the ‘Second Transatlantic Maritime
Emissions Resear ch Network (TR AMEREN)6 International Conference on
Frontiers in Ocea n Environmental Govern ance: Private Actors , Public
Goods’ took pla ce in Copenhagen, Denmark on 17–18 September 2018.
The event was orga nized by the Facult y of Law, Universit y of Copenha gen,7
the Frank J. Guari ni Center on Environmenta l, Energy, and Land Use Law
at New York University S chool of Law,8 the Centre for Internation al
Governance Innovation (CIGI)9 and the European Network Ocean
Governance for Sustainability (OceanGov),10 with the suppor t of the
Danish Ministr y of Higher Education a nd Science and the Dreye rs Fund.
Building on previous TRAMEREN activities,11 the conference
sought to explor e new frontiers in publi c and private ocean gover-
nance, examini ng urgent emerging issu es, such as the regulatio n of
greenhouse ga s emissions from shippi ng, the conservati on of marine
living resourc es and the use of the marin e Arctic for extra ctive in-
dustries. T he conference aimed to address q uestions such as: What
are the gaps in oce an environmental gover nance and existing leg al
frameworks a nd how can these gaps be a ddressed? How does th e
fragmented le gal architecture gover ning the oceans affec t efforts to
promote the conse rvation and sust ainable use of oceans and t heir
resources? How can i nternational legal o bligations at the inter face of
oceans and climat e change be effective ly implemented at the na -
tional and inter national level? And what is t he role of private and
other non-State ac tors in oceans’ environmen tal governance?
This RECIEL specia l issue features a sele ction of papers pr esented
at the conference. T he eight articles in this iss ue reflect the six the-
matic sessions ar ound which the conference w as organized, namely:
emerging issue s in international oceans’ govern ance and private ac-
tors; sustain able fisheries and marine re source use; maritime trans-
port; the A rctic; seabed mana gement; and energ y and the oceans.
The guest edit ors thank the author s for their insightfu l contributions
to this issue, as well a s the RECIEL Editor, Harro van As selt.
While the UN Conve ntion on the Law of the Sea (U NCLOS)
establishe s a comprehensive regim e for governing the oceans, t he
challenges conf ronting the oceans unde rscore that this fram ework
has major gaps. Ma ny of the articles in th is special issue highligh t
gaps in the fram ework establishe d by UNCLOS, and identif y dif-
ferent ways that St ates and other actors a re seeking to fill thes e
gaps, whethe r through the negotiatio n of a new international le-
gally binding in strument, relyi ng on sectoral orga nizations such as
the Internatio nal Maritime Organi zation (IMO), drawing on ex isting
environmental agreements and non-binding instruments, and using
standards established by non-State actors, and information and di-
rect action by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
Two of the articles in thi s special issue addre ss the ongoing nego-
tiations among St ates to address some of th e gaps in the governance
of the high seas whic h lie beyond national jurisdic tion and comprise
over two-thirds of th e oceans:12 the negotiations for a new inter na-
1 UNGA ‘Transf orming Our World : The 2030 Agen da for Sustain able Developm ent’ UN
Doc A/RES/7 0/1 (21 October 2015).
2 ibid Goal 14: ‘Co nserve and sus tainably use t he oceans, seas a nd marine reso urces for
sustainab le developmen t is unfolded in sev en related targ ets includin g preventing and
addressin g marine pollut ion of all kinds, p rotect marine a nd coastal eco systems, oce an
acidification and fish depletion.’
3 UNGA ‘Our Oce an, Our Future: C all for Actio n’ UN Doc A/RES/71/31 2 (14 July 2017).
4 ibid Annex, p ara 2.
5 UNGA ‘Ocean s and the Law of the S ea’ UN Doc A/RES/ 72/73 (4 Januar y 2018) para
188. For a deta iled discussio n of the regulatio n of plastics po llution, see t he special issu e
of (2018) 27 Review of Eu ropean, Comp arative and Inte rnational Env ironmental L aw.
6 The Transatla ntic Maritime Em issions Resea rch Network (T RAMEREN) is an
internatio nal research ne twork estab lished betwe en Faculty of Law o f the Universit y of
Copenhage n and the Frank J. Gu arini Center on En vironmental , Energy, and La nd Use
Law, New York Unive rsity School o f Law.
7
8 < h t t p s :/ / g u a r i ni c e n t e r . o r g / a b o u t / >.
9
10
11 .
12 United Natio ns Convention on t he Law of the Sea (ad opted 10 Decembe r 1982,
entered into fo rce 16 November 1994) 183 3 UNTS 3 (UNCLOS).
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