Conserving the other 50% of the world: status and opportunities in area-based management beyond national jurisdiction

I am pleased to pass on information about a focus group on “Conserving the other 50% of the world: status and opportunities in area-based management beyond national jurisdiction” being organized in association with the 4th International Marine Conservation Congress (July 28th & 29th  2016, St. John’s, Newfoundland).  The main objective of this focus group will be to develop a high level policy brief describing the status and opportunities for the conservation and sustainable use of ABNJ for that PrepCom meeting.  While we are extremely excited by the line-up of speakers (see below), we need, and will reserve significant time for, feedback from the community on the most important elements to include in the policy brief.  We sincerely hope you will join us for the focus group and contribute your voice to this effort!  The focus group will be open to public registration via the conference registration website beginning March 15th.  Submission of abstracts for IMCC itself is now open and runs through March 7th (http://conbio.org/mini-sites/imcc-2016/registration-participation/call-for-abstracts/).  Please find a description of the focus group and a draft agenda with confirmed speakers below.

 

NOTE: the IMCC organizers have labeled this a Focus Group and not a Workshop and as such it is not listed under the pre-conference workshops they recently added to the website.  Focus Groups should be added soon.

 

Thank you,

Daniel Dunn (Duke University)

Telmo Morato (University of the Azores)

Steve Fletcher (UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre)

 

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Conserving the other 50% of the world: status and opportunities in area-based management beyond national jurisdiction A pre-IMCC focus group open to public registration

 

28-29 July, 2016

St. John’s, Newfoundland

 

This past June, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to establish a Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) to begin negotiations on a new legally-binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdictions.  This consensus resolution marks both the culmination of a herculean 10-year effort to bring this topic to the floor of the UNGA and, at the same time, the first step in a larger process.  The negotiations that will ensue over the next two years will set the stage for the conservation of biodiversity for the other 50% of the planet and represent an enormous opportunity to inform conservation policy and effect change.  In this focus group, we will examine the status and opportunities for conservation of ABNJ by reviewing new scientific findings and current sectoral efforts to conserve biodiversity.  We will synthesize this information and consider how it can inform a new legally-binding instrument and how the new instrument may affect existing competent authorities.

 

IMCC 4 precedes the second meeting of the BBNJ PrepCom by just a few weeks.  The main objective of this focus group will be to develop a high level policy brief describing the status and opportunities for the conservation and sustainable use of ABNJ for that PrepCom meeting.  The policy brief will be distributed at a side event at the PrepCom along with a summary presentation of our findings.  The focus group will include speakers (see below) who are intimately involved in ongoing spatial planning & observing processes in ABNJ including: 1) the description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas by the Convention on Biological Diversity; 2) efforts to develop a strategic environmental management plan for mining on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Rio Grande Rise for the International Seabed Authority; 3) work by the Convention on Migratory Species on how governance in ABNJ affects CMS-listed species; 4) the Global Environment Facility’s area-based planning in ABNJ project; 5) application of the Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem concept by RFMOs; 6) the Global Ocean Observing System; and 7) the UN’s Working Group on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction and the PrepCom.

 

Please find the draft agenda below.  All speakers have confirmed their intent to attend.  We could not be more excited about the line-up of speakers and the potential the workshop has to inform the negotiations of a new legally-binding instrument.  While there are numerous speakers, we expect and need significant time for feedback from the community on the most important elements to include in the policy brief.  We sincerely hope you will join us for the focus group and contribute your voice to this effort!

 

DAY 1

9:00 Welcome & Intro (Daniel Dunn)

9:15 The ABNJ Setup (Moderator: Kristina Gjerde)

 

  1. Existing practices and future opportunities for the use of area based planning tools in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction – Steve Fletcher (UNEP-WCMC)

 

  1. Results and implications of the first intergovernmentally sanctioned effort to describe ecological or biologically important areas (EBSAs) and future directions – Pat Halpin (Duke, GOBI, Nereus)

 

  1. Why do we need a network of MPAs in areas beyond national jurisdiction? – Daniel Dunn (Duke, GOBI, Nereus)

 

  1. The UN’s Working Group on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction and negotiations for a legally-binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond national jurisdictions: Update and the path forward – Susanna Fuller (Ecology Action Centre)

 

  1. Governance of the High Seas above Extended Continental Shelves – Marta Chantal (Univ. of Porto)

10:30 ABNJ Setup Highlights & Discussion

11:00 Coffee Break

11:15 Biodiversity in ABNJ Part I: The Deep Sea (Moderator: Lisa Levin)

 

  1. Celebrating and conserving the diversity of chemosynthetic ecosystems – Cindy Van Dover (Duke)

 

  1. Myths and measures of seamount biodiversity – Telmo Morato (Univ. of the Azores)

 

  1. The biodiversity of abyssal plains and how to incorporate it into area-based planning and conservation measures – Tina Molodtsova (P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology)

 

  1. Predictive maps of cold-water corals – John Guinotte (Marine Conservation Institute)

 

  1. New global mesopelagic biogeographies – Gabriel Reygondeau (Nereus, UBC)

 

  1. Global biogeography of brittlestars – Tim O’Hara (Museum Victoria)

12:45 Biodiversity in ABNJ Highlights & Discussion

1:15 Lunch

2:00 Anthropogenic Impacts on the Deep Sea (Moderator: Steve Fletcher)

 

  1. The deep ocean under climate change – Lisa Levin (UCSD, DOSI)

 

  1. Comparing the benefit sharing regime for the high seas and the seabed Area – Kristina Gjerde (Wycliffe Management/MIDAS)

 

  1. What are the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining and can they be reduced – Phil Weaver (Seascape Consultants, MIDAS, GOBI)

 

  1. The International Seabed Authority’s Areas of Particular Environmental Interest and movement on a Mid-Atlantic Ridge Strategic Environmental Management Plan for deep sea mining – David Johnson (Seascape Consultants, GOBI, MIDAS)

3:00 The Deep Sea & Mining Highlights & Discussion

3:30 Coffee Break

3:45 Monitoring and enforcement in ABNJ (Moderator: Pat Halpin)

 

  1. Instrumenting the high seas – Torsten Thiele (Global Ocean Trust)

 

  1. Status of global monitoring of ocean health – Nic Bax (CSIRO)

 

  1. Global information systems to support environmental management of ABNJ – Ward Appletans (OBIS)

 

  1. A model-based approach to monitoring ecosystem health and its application to EBSAs – Piers Dunstan (CSIRO)

 

  1. Status and impact of the port state agreement & satellite surveillance of high seas fishing activities – Daniel Schaeffer (Pew)

5:00 Monitoring and enforcement in ABNJ Highlights & Discussion

5:30 Wrap-up & End for the day

 

DAY 2

 

9:00 Welcome and Summary of Day 1 (Steve Fletcher)

9:15 Biodiversity in ABNJ Part II: Megafauna (Moderator: Sara Maxwell)

 

  1. Global status of oceanic sharks & rays and priority areas for conservation beyond national jurisdiction –Fred Vanderperre

 

  1. Basin-scale density mapping of cetaceans – Laura Mannocci (Duke)

 

  1. Important Bird Areas in ABNJ – Ben Lascelles (Birdlife International)

 

  1. Important Marine Mammal Areas in ABNJ – Michael Tetley (WDCS)

 

  1. Species of cultural importance to Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and what they can contribute to the governance of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction – Yoshitaka Ota (Nereus), Marjo Vierros (UNU)

10:30 Biodiversity in ABNJ Part II Highlights & Discussion

11:00 Coffee Break

11:15 Fisheries in ABNJ (Moderator: Telmo Morato)

 

  1. A review of the impact of fisheries on open-ocean ecosystems – Guillermo Ortuño Crespo (Duke/Nereus)

 

  1. Climate change effects on ABNJ stocks – William Cheung (UBC/Nereus)

 

  1. Transparency in the management of fisheries in ABNJ – Jeff Ardon (Commonwealth Secretariat)

 

  1. Exploratory fisheries in ABNJ – Richard Caddell (NILOS/ Nereus)

 

  1. The status of RFMO conservation measures – Matt Gianni (DSCC)

12:30 Fisheries in ABNJ Highlights & Discussion

1:00 Lunch

1:45 Presentation of all highlights and identification of gaps and the path forward (Moderator: Daniel Dunn)

2:45 Wrap-up

3:00 End for the day

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