Arctic Emergencies: Assessing the Institutional Interplay of the Emergency Measures Provision under the BBNJ Agreement in a Changing Arctic

Abstract Article 24 of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) allows for the adoption of measures on an emergency basis to prevent or respond to serious or irreversible harm to marine biological diversity. This article seeks to investigate the relevance of the emergency measures provision for marine biodiversity in the Central Arctic Ocean, particularly as the effects of climate change expose vulnerable Arctic biodiversity to additional stressors and new threats, such as the opening of new shipping routes. After an introduction of the Arctic region and its peculiarities, from a biodiversity and governance perspective, the article offers an in-depth analysis of Article 24, its constituent elements, and its relationship with other key features of the BBNJ Agreement: the ‘“not undermine”’ principle and the right to object to the establishment of area-based management tools. Following, with a view to anchor the analysis in concrete scenarios, the practical application of emergency measures is examined, focusing on its interrelationship with relevant Arctic legal frameworks and bodies, such as the International Maritime Organization, the International Seabed Authority, the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Final considerations will reflect on the role of the BBNJ Agreement in the Arctic region at present and in the future.