The EU and the UN Legally-Binding Instrument on the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

Abstract

The chapter offers an in-depth reading of the role that the European Union (EU) may play during the current negotiations in the United Nations for the adoption of a new international legally binding agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Despite the complexity of the object and the interests of the negotiations in question, the study stresses the added value of the EU to speak with a single voice on behalf of its Member States, thank on the new status that the EU has in the United Nations General Assembly since 2011. In fact, such a status may assist a major sharing of position of the EU among other States, by covering also the legal gaps of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), concerning the protection of the marine biological diversity and, mainly, the definition and framework of Marine Genetic Resources. Besides, the chapter stresses the idea that the EU may interconnect the new international agreement with other international instruments and International Organizations, in which the EU is an active player, guarantying in this way a concrete coordination and implementation of UNCLOS. Finally, the study will move to consider a pragmatic position expressed by the EU during the negotiations, together with its Member States, trying to understand whether and to what extent it can represent a possible third way to walk on.