Lyell Centre environment lawyer contributes to historic UN marine biodiversity decision

Expert in ocean management and environmental law at the Lyell Centre, Dr Daniela Diz, has contributed to the passing of an historic UN decision to protect marine biodiversity.

At COP16, the 2024 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Conference, 196 parties agreed on new modalities for describing areas important for marine and coastal biodiversity globally through a historical decision that took over eight years of negotiations. This decision will pave the way for the implementation of marine conservation and management strategies to address biodiversity and climate crises.

Dani participated as a technical and legal expert to the final round of negotiations, which took place in Cali in Colombia from 21 October to 2 November, working with several parties to review and revise the final terms of the decision, which will act as instrument for affecting positive change to the way marine and coastal biodiversity areas are protected and sustainably managed.

The Conference of the Parties, which takes place every 2 years, was the last opportunity to form an agreement on how to identify and update with latest scientific information EBSAs (ecologically or biologically significant marine areas), vital for the delivery of effective conservation, management and restoration measures for marine and coastal environments, as outlined in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The decisions taken at COP 16 allow for greater flexibility for describing these areas, ensuring that any changes are informed by advancements in science.

Dani, who has been involved in CBD negotiations for the past 14 years, said: “This agreement heralds an important mandate for greater conservation, sustainable management and protection of marine ecosystems, without which, the foundation of life on our planet couldn’t function.”

Due to political, technical and legal issues, years of additional negotiations and expert workshops have been required to draft the key text on these new modalities for the modification of EBSAs and descriptions of new ones, including during a legal workshop in Oslo in November 2023, which Dani co-chaired.

Dani said: “These outputs underpinned discussions in Colombia – many of which went on throughout the night - that were crucial for getting the agreement over the line. Understandably, reaching an agreement on this issue was met with huge relief and applause by conference delegates!”

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted in 1992 and signed at the UN Conference on Environment and Development at the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio later that year. The 1992 summit was also where the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was approved, leading to the annual Conference of Parties (COP) with member nations focused on solutions to tackle climate change.

This year’s COP29 takes place from 11-22 November in Baku, Azerbaijan. Find out more about how Heriot-Watt University is contributing to the climate debate.