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Sargasso Sea Project's first year - a success

The Sargasso Sea project has concluded its first year with a greater understanding of the Sargasso Sea ecosystem and renewed vigor for its conservation.

By IW:LEARN

December 20^th, 2023

The Sargasso Sea Project builds upon a decade of work by the Sargasso Sea Commission that was established pursuant to the 2014 Hamilton Declaration on Collaboration for the Conservation of the Sargasso Sea which now has ten Government Signatories. The Hamilton Declaration also designated a 2 million square mile “Area of Collaboration” on the high seas for the focus of its conservation efforts. The Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded project seeks to strengthen the stewardship of this ecologically and biologically significant high seas area. It is coordinated by Implementing Agency United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Executing Agency Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC/UNESCO).

A science case for the protection of the Sargasso Sea was built in 2011, which contributed greatly to its designation as an Ecologically or Biologically Significant Area (EBSA) by the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2014. However, this science case is now out of date.

Sargasso Sea Project's first year - a success

Funding from the GEF and French Facility for Global Environment has presented an opportunity to update the science case from 2011 and embark upon the first socio-ecosystem diagnostic analysis (SEDA) for a high seas ecosystem – a process that has been adapted from the TDA/SAP process created for Large Marine Ecosystems (LME).

To build capacity and share knowledge, the project team attended several events this year.

ABMTS in the High Seas workshop, Gland - IUCN

Project representatives attended an Area-Based Management Tools in the High Seas workshop hosted by IUCN in Gland (27-28 June), which discussed specific interpretations of the recent UN high seas treaty text. This event was an outstanding opportunity to reflect on the context of the Sargasso Sea project within the UN high seas treaty negotiations, as the finalized treaty will be the first internationally binding instrument for the conservation of biodiversity in the high seas and introduces an innovative mechanism to create internationally recognized marine protected areas on the high seas.

The project team also attended the 22nd Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) Conference from 11-13 July hosted by IOC-UNESCO in Paris. This provided a rare opportunity to share experiences regarding high seas issues and learn from the process of other LME projects.

22nd LME Meeting, Paris. Photo: IOC UNESCO.

The project convened a steering committee and a stakeholder meeting from 4-5 October in Edinburgh in coordination with the High Seas Symposium. It also co-hosted a technical meeting on Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) in the High Seas with the International Maritime Organisation, the World Maritime University, and Mar Viva. IMO has a mandate to designate PSSAs - although so far none have been on the high seas beyond 200nm. PSSA designation is a tool to reduce the impacts of international shipping on an area deemed to have cultural, ecological, or scientific importance, which the project may utilize.

The project also continues to work closely with the separate but complementary SARGADOM project, funded by the French Facility for Global Environment, and with the Common Oceans Programme of which the Sargasso Sea project is one of the four child projects.

Sargasso Sea Project Steering Committee and Stakeholder Meetings, Edinburgh. Photo: Ana Gebruk.

Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas in the High Seas, San José. Photo: World Maritime University.

About the GEF/UNDP/IOC/SSC Strengthening the Stewardship of the Sargasso Sea

“Strengthening stewardship through cooperation in an economically and biologically significant high seas area – the Sargasso Sea” is part of the GEF Council Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) programme entitled "Common Oceans - Sustainable utilisation and conservation of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction"; the programme is financed under the GEF's International Waters focal area.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the GEF implementing agency for the project, with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (IOC-UNESCO) as executing agency.

The project collaborates with the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, the Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, the Imperial College London Centre for Environmental Policy, the University of Edinburgh, the World Maritime University, and the French Global Environment Facility (FFEM).

The overall objective of the nearly $3 million GEF/UNDP/UNESCO/IOC Sargasso Sea project is to facilitate a collaborative, cross-sectoral, and sustainable stewardship mechanism for the Sargasso Sea through the improvement of the knowledge base and strengthened frameworks for collaborative management and governance.