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The role of ASEAN and its members in promoting the norm of responsible governance of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction
Author(s) -
Gunasekara Sandya Nishanthi,
Karim Md Saiful
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
review of european, comparative and international environmental law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 2050-0394
pISSN - 2050-0386
DOI - 10.1111/reel.12372
Subject(s) - jurisdiction , corporate governance , norm (philosophy) , biodiversity , political science , marine biodiversity , global governance , environmental resource management , environmental planning , business , geography , ecology , law , economics , biology , finance
This article analyses the potential of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its members to promote the norm of responsible governance of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). Based on the literature on international norms, this article suggests that the norm of responsible governance of ABNJ biodiversity will soon reach the point of a norm cascade, after which it will gradually move towards the stage of norm internalization. As such, the norm can have the potential to standardize appropriate behaviour of States. This article examines ASEAN’s norm‐promotion activities within and outside the region that support an improved governance system for ABNJ. Notably, some ASEAN States play an important role both individually and collectively in the development of a new global legal instrument on marine biodiversity of ABNJ. The findings suggest that although the conservation of biodiversity of ABNJ has been the subject of debate for more than a decade, ASEAN’s initiatives to protect marine biodiversity of ABNJ are limited. This is not surprising considering the lack of jurisdiction in ABNJ. Nevertheless, ASEAN’s overall initiatives for conservation of the marine environment are highly relevant for its future role in ABNJ governance because some regional ocean governance norms are transferable in the ABNJ context.