Professor Steve Fletcher, the new Research Theme Director for Environment and Sustainability, chaired an event at the UN headquarters earlier this month, focused on building the awareness of connectivity issues between national waters and areas beyond national jurisdiction.
Partners at the event were the Government of Ecuador, UN Environment Regional Seas Organisation for the South East Pacific, Duke University and the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre.
The event was part of an Intergovernmental conference to negotiate a new legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction – if passed, this will create a step change in the management of the ocean for decades.
For the rest of the week, Professor Fletcher worked with UN colleagues to provide advice and technical information into the intergovernmental conference.