We appreciate everyone's enthusiasm for this event! However, we've reached the maximum capacity of the venue. As a result, new registrations for this event are limited to online participation only.
This event seeks to address new developments in ocean governance and the challenges and opportunities that they present for ocean sustainability from a multi-disciplinary perspective. As such, the event brings together natural scientists, political scientists, lawyers and practitioners to share their insights on the different facets of ocean sustainability. The event will be open to the members of the Sustainable Ocean Community, staff members as well as students from Utrecht University.
The event will consist of 2 panels and lunch. When registering, please indicate which part (or all) of the program you are planning to attend. We hope to see many of you there!
On 22 January 2024, Palau became the very first State to ratify the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement). Although the Agreement has been dubbed the ‘High Seas Treaty’ in the press, it is intended to provide a comprehensive governance regime for all areas beyond national jurisdiction (both the high seas and the deep seabed), which comprise more than half of the surface area of the ocean.
In parallel, the International Seabed Authority, mandated to organize and control all mineral-related activities of the deep-seabed beyond national jurisdiction (also known as ‘the Area’), is currently developing a set of regulations that will govern the commercial exploitation of such minerals. As the Area and its resources are the common heritage of humankind, the imminent start of mineral-related activities, as well as the way to regulate them, raises questions of equity, fair sharing and distribution, effective monitoring, stakeholder participation, and environmental protection.
As both processes cover areas beyond national jurisdiction, they are bound to interact; attention therefore needs to be dedicated to the synergies that can be created. The role of science for understanding the ecological connectivity in these areas will also be crucial to inform an effective governance, regulatory and management framework. In light of the first ratification of the BBNJ Agreement and of the latest round of negotiations at the ISA (March 2024), a multi-disciplinary panel will discuss the latest developments with regard to these two important processes in ocean governance, and assess what the future holds for them.
Sabine Gollner is a Senior scientist at the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). As a marine biologist, she investigates the various types of life in the deep sea. She has been on several research expedition to the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean and to the mid-Atlantic Ridge. Sabine acts as scientific advisor to the delegation of the Netherlands attending meetings of the International Seabed Authority and is the co-lead of the Minerals Working Group of the Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI).
Hilde Woker is an Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University. Her research focuses on the role of science in public international law and the law of the sea. Hilde previously worked at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (NCLOS) in Tromsø, Norway, where she also undertook her PhD research on the law-science interface within the law of the sea. Hilde is currently co-leading the multi-year research project ‘H2OLAW Law-Science Interfaces within the Law of the Sea and Fresh Water Law’ at Leiden University.
Meggie Salomonsz is policy officer at the Dutch Ministry for Infrastructure and Water Management. Her work focuses on deep-seabed mining and the implementation of the BBNJ Agreement, and she also works more broadly on issues related to the marine environment in the Dutch Caribbean. Meggie joined the Dutch delegation to the resumed fifth session of the intergovernmental conference negotiating the text of the BBNJ Agreement, and she is a member of the Dutch delegation to the meetings of the Council of the International Seabed Authority.
The ocean plays a critical role in regulating the climate. At the same time, climate change is a major threat to the health of the ocean and, as a consequence, of current and future generations. The ocean-climate nexus therefore needs to be better understood in order to facilitate the appropriate responses to strengthen this relationship. This panel aims to explore the ocean-climate nexus both from a scientific perspective and legal perspective through the lens of the three pending advisory requests before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights relating to climate change. The panellists will share their views on the science behind the ocean-climate nexus, the role that international courts and tribunals may play in strengthening the relationship between the ocean, the climate and human rights, as well as the interplay between law and science in enhancing ocean sustainability.
Erik van Sebille is professor of oceanography and public engagement at Utrecht University’s Faculty of Science. Trained as a climate physicist, he investigates how ocean currents carry material such as nutrients, plankton, and plastic pollution between regions. He is also the lead on the Whose Ocean? Project, in which an interdisciplinary team explores how to amplify the voice of the ocean.
Jessica Joly Hébert is an international lawyer, member of the Quebec Bar and admitted to the Paris Bar. She worked for 5 years at the International Court of Justice as an Associate Legal Officer and is currently completing a PhD at Paris Nanterre University on consent and the law of State responsibility.
Walter Orlando Arevalo Ramirez is a Principal Professor of Public International Law at the Law Faculty of Universidad del Rosario, Colombia, President of the Colombian Academy of International Law. Associate of the Hispanic-Luso-American Institute of International Law. He is also the Director of the Latin American Network of International Law Journals RELAREDI, and a party in several amicus curiae before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
Brian McGarry is Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University's Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies. A member of the New York Bar, he clerked for arbitral tribunals in cases established under the Law of the Sea Convention before serving as counsel in such cases before the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
