The Nereus Scientific & Technical Briefs on Marine Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) serieswas developed out of a workshop held prior to this year’s 4th International Marine Conservation Congress in St. John’s, Newfoundland (July-August 2016). They were prepared for the second meeting of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Preparatory Committee, held from August 26 – September 9, at the UN. The PrepComm is developing an international legally binding instrument under the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. These policy briefs are meant to inform this process and different aspects of high seas conservation and use.

The series includes policy briefs on:
1) Space for conservation and sustainable use: area-based management in areas beyond national jurisdiction
2) Climate changein oceans beyond national jurisdictions
3) Open Data: enabling conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction
4) Technology Transfer
5) Satellite tracking to monitor area-based management tools & identify governance gaps in fisheries beyond national jurisdiction
6) A review of the impacts of fisheries on open-ocean ecosystems

These briefs were organised by Daniel Dunn, Nereus Program Senior Fellow & research scientist in the Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab. Please contact daniel.dunn at duke.edu for any further inquiries. The workshop and coordination of the briefs was supported by the Nippon Foundation-Nereus Program. All briefs are the product of the specified authors, not the organiser or Nereus. We thank them for their incredible generosity with their time and effort to inform this important process.