Justice and the conservation of marine biodiversity

Continued marine biodiversity loss is likely to have very serious impacts on the millions of people who depend on the ocean for food and other ecosystem benefits – and it will also have catastrophic consequences for the animals that make the sea their home. But policies seeking to mitigate marine biodiversity loss will also produce burdens. Who should bear them? And how can policymakers ensure that transitions towards oceanic sustainability are conducted fairly? To help answer those questions, this paper engages with principles of ocean justice. These principles can help clarify what is at stake in the marine biodiversity crisis, and should also allow us to evaluate policy approaches adopted within e.g. the new Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (which, among other things, seeks to boost funding for marine biodiversity conservation). First, the paper situates the marine challenge in relation to the wider biodiversity crisis. Second, it clarifies key principles for fair burden-sharing in marine conservation, and shows how they can be combined together to provide normative guidance for conservation practice. Third, it argues for a relative shift in focus away from protected areas, and towards more holistic conservation policies which keep the consumption habits of the globally advantaged firmly in view. Finally, the paper investigates principles for fair inclusion in decision-making about marine conservation, and suggests both a democratisation of marine conservation policy-making, and a move away from its current anthropocentric bias.