Principles of international environmental protection - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 114

Figure 4.4 The Beebe hydrothermal vent, 5,000 metres deep in the Caribbean Sea near
the Cayman Islands. Hydrothermal vents are underwater hot wells. Unique
biota live around them, such as a shrimp with a photophore on its back.
(Photo © HyBIS RUV, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton)
The European Union adopted its new Integrated Maritime Policy in
December 2007 to pursue two administrative models for the high seas: an
agreement on high seas biodiversity conservation, and the establishment of
marine protected areas on the high seas. The conservation of high seas biodi-
versity is currently under negotiation in the BBNJ Working Group 33 estab-
lished under the UN General Assembly. 34
The BBNJ Working Group has been working on this issue since the mid-
2000s. The latest news from the UN in 2011 was that proper consideration
would be given to an international agreement on the regulation of biodiversity
in areas beyond the jurisdiction of states, perhaps through an implementation
agreement under the Convention on the Law of the Sea. The outcome
document of 2012 Rio +20, The Future We Want , also supports negotiations
for such an implementation agreement.
The successful conclusion of a convention is still fraught with many chal-
lenges, however. For instance, the principle behind the division of the
benefi ts from commercial utilization of biological diversity is unclear if those
benefi ts have been derived from areas beyond the jurisdiction of states. It is