Governance: Who’s Who

Go directly to our interactive ABNJ governance diagram.

UNCLOS provides a legal framework for basic aspects of ocean governance, including the drawing of international administrative boundaries in the ocean (see here). However, UNCLOS doesn't provide a comprehensive framework for the coordinated management of all human activities, nor does it fully address conservation and sustainable use of the ocean’s ecosystems. Instead, the institutional and legal framework for marine ABNJ is fragmented. Many different multilateral agreements, institutions and management bodies have a mandate to manage specific types of activity in different regions. Further information can be found in the reports by UNEP-WCMC (2017) or Durussel et al. (2018).

The two diagrams below represent the institutional and legal oceanscape of ABNJ Governance. They show the main relevant international organisations and legal agreements and some of the connections between them. The layout of these diagrams is adapted from Durussel et al. (2018) of the IKI STRONG High Seas Project. The icons are sourced and adapted from graphics by Surang, Freepik and Made by Made, downloaded from www.flaticon.com and licensed under a Creative Commmons licence.

If you wish to explore the ABNJ governance oceanscape in more detail, go to our interactive ABNJ governance diagram. This is an animated version of the two diagrams below, which allows you to click on the icons to find out more about each institution or legal instrument.