International Marine Issues

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High Seas Biodiversity

Program of Events

Workshop on the Governance of High Seas Biodiversity Conservation
and
Workshop on Ecosystem Based Management (EBM)

16th - 20th June 2003
Radisson-Plaza Hotel and Conference Centre, Cairns, Australia

These two workshops will be held back-to-back, and registration includes attendance at both workshops. Registration, Agendas and Workshop Secretariat contact details are now available on this web site.

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Workshop on the Governance of High Seas Biodiversity Conservation

The deep oceans contain a vast diversity of life forms, many of which are still being discovered. Some scientists estimate that over 100 million species may inhabit the high seas.

This marine life is little understood, and scientific knowledge to guide management is very limited. There are many examples of severe, and potentially irreversible, damage to the biodiversity and environment of the high seas under present management and jurisdictional arrangements.

In order to work towards addressing these issues, Australia will host a major international conference on high seas biodiversity from 16-20 June 2003.

Australia is facilitating this international workshop to advance practical action to improve the conservation and management of the biodiversity of the high seas and deep oceans — the Earth's final frontier.

This initiative is being undertaken in partnership with the following nations: UK, New Zealand, Canada, USA, and Cambodia; and non-government organisations including: WWF, IUCN, and IOI. All relevant intergovernmental organisations¹ will be invited.

Attendance at the Workshop will be by invitation and will be limited to 150 people. Practitioners who wish to attend the Workshop should inform the Secretariat as soon as possible. Limited travel assistance may be available. There will be no fees charged for registration or attendance.

The Workshop specifically addresses the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Plan of Implementation call to 'maintain the productivity and biodiversity of important and vulnerable marine and coastal areas...beyond national jurisdiction' (para 31a).

The expected outcomes are:

1. To identify institutional gaps in the United Nations system which impede addressing the conservation of biodiversity of the high seas and deep oceans — and identify a range of approaches to reduce these gaps;
2. To identify gaps in international governance arrangements which impede addressing the conservation of biodiversity of the high seas and deep oceans — and identify a range of approaches to reduce these gaps;
3. To assemble a team of partners² to develop a demonstration site (virtual) on the high seas to test management options and concepts, within existing institutional and governance arrangements, for the conservation of the biodiversity of the high seas and deep oceans; and
4. Following the Workshop, within about 90 days, partners develop a management reaction list of the challenges and gaps the demonstration site presents to their national and/or organisational agendas.

Workshop on Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) -
"Beyond Biodiversity - Sustainable Management and Conservation of the Oceans using EBM"

The final day of the Program moves us "beyond biodiversity" and into a one?day workshop on ecosystem based management of deep sea activities. This workshop aims to identify the impediments, and potential solutions, to EBM of ocean activities at the domestic, regional and global levels.

The EBM workshop supports the United Nations Informal Consultative Process on Oceans' vision to achieve "an integrated, interdisciplinary, intersectoral and ecosystem-based approach to oceans management"³. The workshop also links in with the goals of Chapter 17 of Agenda 21, and the Plan of Implementation of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The EBM workshop will specifically build on undertakings expressed in the APEC Seoul Ocean Declaration, where Ministers representing 21 economies bordering the world's largest ocean declared their resolution to develop "a shared understanding of the concepts and practice underpinning the ecosystem-based approach to management"⁴ at both the domestic and regional levels. Other international fora with an interest in the implementation of EBM for ocean uses include the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

This workshop is aimed at Senior Bureaucrats, Senior Scientists, Resource Managers and Industry Managers grappling with sustainable management and conservation of domestic, regional and global oceans.

The outcomes from the workshop will contribute to a separate report on Ecosystem Based Management of Ocean Activities. The report will focus on the regional and domestic principles and practices underpinning the EBM approach to the use of oceans, and will explore solutions to the impediments that currently hinder the global delivery of EBM for ocean activities.

These two workshops will be held back-to-back, and registration includes attendance at both workshops. Registration, Agendas and Workshop Secretariat contact details are now available on this web site.

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¹ Including UNEP, UNESCO/IOC, DOALOS, ISA, IMO, FAO, IWC, etc.
² organisations, intergovernmental organisations, and industry.
³ Report on the work of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process (UNICP) at its 3rd meeting, May 2002, New York, A/57/80. (The UNICP was established by the General Assembly in its resolution 54/33 in order to facilitate the annual review by the Assembly of developments in oceans affairs)
⁴ APEC Oceans Declaration - May 2002