Implementation of Existing International Legal Instruments for Conservation and Sustainable Uses of Marine Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction: A Case Study of the OSPAR Convention

The states of the world face the new challenge of attempting to prevent the global loss of marine biodiversity by protecting the 64% of the surface area of the oceans that lies beyond national jurisdiction. With this aim, various regional agreements have been negotiated to commit states to set up representative networks of marine protected areas (MPAs). The aim of this note is to explain how it was possible to designate six MPAs in the high sea under the OSPAR Convention and some of the challenges this process raised.