Negotiation and Dispute Prevention in Global Cooperative Institutions: International Community Interests, IUU Fishing, and the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Negotiation

Abstract

In areas beyond national jurisdiction communitarian interests are vulnerable to a weak legal order, evidenced by the prevalence of IUU fishing. The negotiation of an agreement for conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) and the still-evolving jurisprudence for erga omnes obligations present opportunities to strengthen them through global cooperative institutions by empowering states and non-state actors. BBNJ bodies designed to lead effective cooperation with other regimes should be considered strengthening, not undermining, to the legal order of the ocean, as economic interests emphasized in other instruments may be enhanced in the long-term by the BBNJ agreement’s planning, transparency, capacity building and technology transfer provisions. International courts have found that individual states have standing to represent community interests; non-state actors could also be recognized to have standing to access judicial fora when existential interests of humanity are at stake.

Keywords: international courts, International Court of Justice, high seas, erga omnes, biodiversity, IUU fishing, BBNJ Agreement