STRONG High Seas – Sustainable use of the High Seas

Marine areas outside national sovereign territories cover roughly half of the Earth’s surface. These areas offer habitats for a highly diverse range of species and provide key ecosystem services. The project supported the development of multi-sector approaches to retaining the biodiversity and ensuring the sustainable use of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) in the south-east Atlantic and Pacific. While accounting for regional interests and the dynamics of global politics, the project identified positive examples for sustainable use. The programme also helped national institutions to implement existing instruments for marine protection while developing new approaches. Apart from this, the project helped to drive technical and scientific cooperation, and recommending ABNJ measures at the regional level. Insights gained are being shared with other regions. In addition, potential regional governance approaches were developed as part of a future international UNCLOS instrument.

Project data

IKI funding: 3,771,445.96 €
Duration: 06/2017 till 05/2022
Status: completed
Implementing organisation: Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) e.V.
Political Partner: Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (CPPS)

Secretariat of the Abidjan Convention - Ivory Coast
Implementing Partner: BirdLife International - Global Office - United Kingdom

Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) - Frankreich

International Ocean Institute – Southern Africa

Universidad Católica del Norte (Millenium Nucleus for Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands, ESMOI)

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - Colombia

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - Germany
Online: https://www.prog-ocean.org/our-work/strong-high-seas/

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State of implementation/results

Project completed.
The STRONG High Seas project provided important contributions to the regions and the ongoing UN negotiations.
Ministry representatives from the Southeast Pacific and Southeast Atlantic who participated in the first capacity building programme in September 2018 and the second capacity building programme in August 2019 during the BBNJ negotiations at the United Nations in New York have reported the usefulness of the programme for their work and many of them continue to follow the BBNJ negotiations for their country, both at the negotiations and in Capital.
Countries of the Southeast Pacific region thanked the STRONG High Seas project at the CPPS General Assembly in January 2020 for the important contribution of the project to the work of the CPPS and its member States. The General Assembly ratified its commitment to the project and the countries expressed their willingness to strengthen collaboration with the project. Countries in the Southeast Pacific region also underlined the project's important contribution to the region during the third Dialogue Workshop in February 2020, particularly in view of the ongoing BBNJ negotiations at the UN.
The Peruvian Government invited STRONG High Seas as an expert at the first BBNJ inter-ministerial meeting ('National Dialogue') in February 2020. The Government underlined the important contribution of the STRONG High Seas project and the willingness of the Government to continue working with the project. The importance of supporting further National Dialogues in the countries of the CPPS region was stressed by the States in the Southeast Pacific region during the third Dialogue Workshop in February 2020
The Abidjan Convention actively collaborated with the STRONG High Seas project through its secretariat. The project was asked to contribute to the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Abidjan Convention with several high level and expert presentations, hosting a side event on the importance of and considerations for ABNJ, and supported with drafting resolution text on ABNJ for the COP. The project also collaborated with the ABNJ Working Group established by the Convention, as well as was asked in January 2020 by the Abidjan Convention Secretariat to contribute to the African Union position on BBNJ.
The Abidjan Convention, together with the project, developed a stakeholder platform on BBNJ (highseas-abidjanconvention.org).
CPPS developed a stakeholder platform on BBNJ together with the project (abnj-pacifico.org).
All publications are available for download on the STRONG High Seas website (www.prog-ocean.org/…).
Details of all events can be found on the website (www.prog-ocean.org/…).
The project was represented on social media (Twitter: @PROG_Ocean, Facebook: @STRONGHiSeas) and on Researchgate (www.researchgate.net/…).