Sarah Gahlen

Marine Spatial Planning is currently used by an increasing number of coastal States to organize human activities in their territorial waters. The integrated management of resources and undertakings, even if it is a comparatively recent development, has in many cases allowed to reconcile conflicting interests and to proceed to a more sustainable use of marine spaces. ln view of that, the aim of this study is to analyse whether marine spatial planning can also be a solution to achieve a better governance for waters beyond national jurisdiction. Whereas the freedom of the high seas has always been a brazen principle of the law of the sea, there is a growing awareness of the fact that the resources of the ocean are limited after all and that there is a need to establish ocean governance for the sake of future generations. Marine spatial planning, as a concept taking into account the scientific, cultural and economic particularities of oceanic region in question, could arguably be the right tool to reconcile conflicting interests and to achieve a more sustainable use of the aceans while only restricting the freedom of the high seas where it is absolutely necessary. The study inquires into the ways in which States could cooperate through international agreements in order to establish a legal framework for marine spatial planning in waters beyond national jurisdiction. ln order for the arrangement to become effective, it will entail incentives for States to participate and mechanisms to deter them from violation or free-riding.