Author
Prof CHEN-JU CHEN
Organisation/Institution
National Chengchi University, College of Law
Country
TAIWAN (ROC)
Panel
International Law
Title
To Face the ocean-climate nexus through the BBNJ Agreement with focus on the Practices of the ASEAN and its Member States
Abstract
Over the years, the ocean-climate nexus has attracted the policy-makers and scholars’ efforts to address their relations via the laws and policies at global, regional, and domestic levels. Significantly, the preamble of the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), adopted in 2023, referring directly to the impacts of climate change on marine biodiversity marks this Agreement the first international instrument to link the marine biodiversity conservation and the climate change effects. The international law of the sea and climate law had seemed to be two areas with no intersection. Yet, this phenomenon could be changed by the entering into force of the BBNJ Agreement in January 2026. As Southeast Asia connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the health and security of these oceans are secured by the law of the sea. The law of the sea has long enshrined in the ASEAN frameworks. Several ASEAN States, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, have also ratified the Agreement as of November 2025. This paper, based on the development and relevant provisions of the BBNJ Agreement, investigates how the specific ASEAN States respond to the ocean-climate nexus via their domestic rules and policies as well as how they react to the BBNJ negotiations and the Agreement. Given the characteristics of different ASEAN States, this paper focuses on the practices of the major coastal States, including Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. In addition, bearing in mind the importance of multi-level high seas governance, it examines ASEAN’s policies and responses to the ocean-climate nexus and the BBNJ Agreement at the regional level. Thus, it is able to reach its aims to see the effectiveness and efficiencies of the BBNJ Agreement in these regional seas.
Biography
Chen-Ju Chen Dr. iuris, Faculty of Law, University of Hamburg, Germany. Currently, Chen is Professor of international law at the Department of Law, National Chengchi University, Taiwan. She teaches public international law, law of the sea, international economic and trade law, and private international law. Chen's research interests involve issues based on international law of the sea and its relevance to other legal fields, such as ocean and trade; ocean and the environment; ocean and human rights. Such issues also include Taiwan’s maritime disputes, maritime affairs authority, and ocean affairs.
