Article 'Social- ecological resilience and the law' published

The article “Socio-ecological resilience and the law: Exploring the adaptive capacity of the BBNJ agreement” by Catherine Blanchard (NILOS and UCWOSL) together with Carole Durussel and Ben Boteler (Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS)) was recently published in Marine Policy.

The article looks into areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) as a socio-ecological system and argues that the law can be a tool for improving the resilience of a system. In light of the upcoming, consolidated regime for the sustainable management of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) through the development of an internationally legally binding agreement on the topic, and considering the uncertainty surrounding our knowledge of ABNJ, this paper suggests to look at the BBNJ agreement from the perspective of resilience thinking and adaptive strategies. The paper explores how this perspective could bring new insights to the development of the BBNJ agreement, as well as the emerging literature linking law and resilience.

The full text of the article is accessible online (until 13 September 2019), and via Marine Policy subscription at all times.