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38 | THE BLUE ECONOMY AND FINANCE

MONACO BLUE INITIATIVE

The role

of international

negotiations

The panellists involved in current or future negotia- SUPPORTED BY SCIENCE
tions shared and made recommendations to allow
these major global meetings on the oceans to deli- The speakers all shared the sense of urgency, and
ver significant results. The priority is not reviewing the they all emphasised the importance of global gover-
protection objectives as such, but more efficient im- nance based on a solid scientific foundation. Bruno
plementation. For Sophie Mirgaux, special envoy for Oberle, Director General of the IUCN, underlined the
the ocean (Belgium), the future treaty on protecting importance of sufficient tracking, control and moni-
high seas biodiversity (BBNJ) - which is still being ne- toring to transform the legally binding instrument into
gotiated - is a framework which would allow the glo- holistic ocean governance. He supported the use of a
bal implementation of the lofty ambitions set by the top-level panel dedicated to the ocean, which would
highest international bodies, which must be relayed represent all States and which would be supported
by effective regional agreements. by science. The moderator, Sébastien Trayer, Exe-
cutive Director of the Sustainable Development and
International Relations Institute in Paris, emphasised
the importance of consolidating scientific knowledge.
“There are considerable data gaps on the oceans,
notably for developing countries and the deep sea,
“We must make a deeper, more 90% of which is not mapped”, remarked Alexan-
tangible commitment to tackle der Shestakov, from the Secretariat of the Conven-
this global issue which has tion on Biological Diversity, which is keen to involve
three parts: the climate, the non-coastal countries which still benefit from the eco-
ocean and biodiversity.” system services offered by oceans.

Susan Gardner,
Director, Ecosystems Division
at UN Environment