| BBNJ international agreements are important legal instruments in the field of marine conservation beyond national jurisdiction,and environmental impact assessments are a hot topic in the negotiation of BBNJ agreements and an important globally recognised tool for addressing the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity.Agreements on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction have become a new high ground for governance instruments in the marine sector.So far,the international negotiations on the BBNJ have reached an end and a consensus has been reached on the content of the environmental impact assessment system,although there are still different voices and views from countries on some issues,including the implementation body of the environmental impact assessment system,evaluation targets,implementation procedures,monitoring mode,public participation and responsibility.The question of whether to adopt a ’state-led’ or ’international’ model for implementation and supervision is a matter of compromise between the implementation and supervision powers of countries over proposed activities under their jurisdiction or control,i.e.the transfer of national sovereignty.The solution to this problem requires the identification of the state as the subject of enforcement and supervision,supported by a special international body,in order to achieve a balance between efficiency and equity in environmental impact assessment.As for the determination of the subject of the evaluation,there is no mature view on the threshold to be adopted in the agreement,but from the application point of view,the adoption of a uniformly high threshold is more in line with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,and also makes the evaluation activities more efficient.As regards public participation in the monitoring of EIA,there is a lack of clarity as to who should be involved and when and how they should be involved,which needs to be clarified and defined in the agreement to guarantee the participation of stakeholders in the EIA process.With regard to the issue of responsibility for environmental impact assessment,there is a lack of basis in international law,exclusion of the polluter-pays principle,and difficulties in cumulative impact assessment.These problems can be solved by adopting a national liability system and the principle of fault imputation,and by following the polluter-pays approach.China,as a responsible maritime power in the new era,plays an important role in the BBNJ agreement negotiations,but at the same time China’s laws on environmental impact assessment outside its national jurisdiction are also inadequate,so China should take advantage of the BBNJ negotiations to improve its domestic legislation,realise the convergence of domestic and international legislation,and use the development of international rules to effectively safeguard national maritime interests. |
