Environmental Impact Assessment in High Seas: Critical Analysis Under BBNJ Treaty

Abstract

The high seas, which include regions beyond national jurisdiction, face a new level of ecological challenges with loss of biodiversity, plastic pollution, and climate-induced ocean acidification. All these issues have formed a strong urge to initiate a sound environmental governance structure. The Treaty, which is developed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Treaty), was adopted in June 2023, and the framework is expected to address the challenges mentioned above through the introduction of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) framework. The paper will critically assess if the BBNJ EIA framework enhances high seas governance, particularly in terms of its legal soundness, applicability, and enforceability. Using doctrinal legal research, treaty analysis, and a comprehensive review of case law and case studies, the research assesses the conformity of the framework with the current principles of international environmental law, locates the problems of implementation, and suggests the legal reforms to be made in the future. The analysis indicates that the framework effectively incorporates precaution, transparency, and equity, but it also exposes multiple shortcomings that relate to state-centric decision-making procedures, hidden ambiguities in the law, and the absence of enforcement procedures. The paper, through its questioning of a wide range of case studies, such as deep-sea mining and fisheries management of the region, promotes a series of practical recommendations to make the EIA process more effective, which would benefit the international law community and the enhancement of sustainable management of the high seas.