Arctic Emergencies: Exploring the Legal Scope of Emergency Measures under the BBNJ Agreement to Protect Vulnerable Marine Biodiversity in the Central Arctic Ocean

Abstract

The adoption of the BBNJ Agreement in 2023 was a milestone for the protection of marine biodiversity in the areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) of the oceans as it created a global legal basis for the adoption of marine protected areas (MPAs) in such ABNJ. The Central Arctic Ocean is the region selected for this research as it aligns with the geographical scope of the BBNJ Agreement and because it hosts vulnerable biodiversity, threatened and degraded by the effects of climate change, that would significantly benefit from the protection afforded by MPAs. Moreover, the possibility to adopt emergency MPAs arguably offers a way to prevent or react rapidly to natural phenomena or human-caused disasters that may seriously or irreversibly harm marine biodiversity. Therefore, analyzing the legal scope of such emergency measures in the context of the Central Arctic Ocean is the aim of this thesis.