Headline: Workshop: High Seas Governance in Western, Central and Southern Africa

The Convention for Cooperation in the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Atlantic Coast of the West, Central and Southern Africa Region (Abidjan Convention) decided at the eleventh meeting of its Conference of the Parties (COP) (Cape Town, South Africa, 17-21 March 2014) “to set up a working group to study all aspects of the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction within the framework of the Abidjan Convention […]” (Decision CP. 11.10 on the Conservation and Sustainable use of the Marine Biodiversity of the Areas Located beyond National Jurisdictions). In January 2015 the UN Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction recommended to the General Assembly negotiations for a new international legally-binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

In view of these developments, the Secretariat of the Abidjan Convention has invited IASS, together with IDDRI and UNEP, through the Partnership for Regional Ocean Governance (PROG) to provide support in launching and operationalizing the Working Group, including by organizing a first scoping workshop.

This workshop will gather 15-20 experts from the Abidjan Convention Contracting Parties, international and regional organisations, NGOs and research centres in Mahe, Seychelles. The aim of this workshop will be:

1. to preliminarily update participants on the negotiation process towards the elaboration of an international instrument dedicated to ABNJ;
2. to inform participants on existing regional initiatives in ABNJ (in the North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean, the Southern Ocean and Sargasso Sea regions in particular);
3. to elaborate draft terms of reference (ToR) for the Working Group, as well as its draft programme of work, for consideration by the Abidjan Convention Parties.