International Maritime Law Issues

Marine genetic resources—the biological material found in ocean organisms that holds potential value for medicine, agriculture, and industry—sit at an uneasy intersection of scientific ambition, commercial interest, and international law. Questions about who owns these resources, particularly in waters beyond national jurisdiction, are governed by frameworks like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Nagoya Protocol, yet significant gaps and disputes remain over how benefits from bioprospecting should be distributed equitably among nations. Researchers are actively working to clarify how continental shelf delimitation affects sovereign claims over deep-sea biodiversity, and how high-seas governance can be strengthened to prevent both overexploitation and the erosion of conservation commitments. Central open questions include whether existing legal instruments are adequate for the pace of biotechnological development, and how access and benefit-sharing mechanisms can function fairly when the science, the law, and the geopolitics are all still evolving.

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85,580

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219,921

Keywords

Marine Genetic ResourcesAccess and Benefit SharingInternational LawBiodiversity ConservationUNCLOSNagoya Protocol