The Politics of Marine Biodiversity Data: Global and National Policies and Practices of Monitoring the Oceans

Project Information

MARIPOLDATA

Grant agreement ID: 804599

DOI

10.3030/804599

Project closed

EC signature date 18 October 2018

Start date 1 November 2018

End date 30 June 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 391 932,00

EU contribution

€ 1 391 932,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - MARIPOLDATA (The Politics of Marine Biodiversity Data: Global and National Policies and Practices of Monitoring the Oceans)

Reporting period: 2023-05-01 to 2024-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

From 2018 to 2023, governments negotiated a new international legally binding agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) concerning the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). This BBNJ agreement has the potential to transform governance of the High Seas by safeguarding the ocean and its living resources for future generations. However, competing state interests in marine space and resources created challenges in reaching an agreement and incorporating much-needed scientific knowledge, such as identifying marine protected areas and supporting environmental impact assessments. The BBNJ negotiations and governance have been particularly affected by long-standing global inequalities between the Global North and the Global South in the exploration and exploitation of marine resources. Despite this, the relationship between science and policy in marine biodiversity politics is not well understood, complicating the ability of policymakers to utilize knowledge effectively in protecting marine species and ecosystems in the High Seas.
The MARIPOLDATA project examined the various roles of science and expertise in the BBNJ negotiations, focusing on conflicts over scientific concepts, pathways of scientific impact, and expert authority. This project developed a new understanding of how science and policy interact and identified emerging forms of power in global environmental politics through a novel mixed-methods approach. It is crucial to analyze the roles of science and knowledge in multilateral environmental negotiations alongside a systematic examination of scientific fields and practices. This is because the capacity of state and non-state actors to develop and utilize science and data in negotiation contexts is unevenly distributed. Global efforts for scientific collaboration and data sharing face significant challenges due to differing perceptions of who benefits from marine biodiversity research. Although the natural science community is increasingly aware of these challenges, the political dimensions of marine biodiversity data remain understudied. Academic discussions often overlook how international politics legitimizes and authorizes scientific concepts, data sources, and criteria, ultimately affecting national monitoring priorities and practices for ocean protection. The central objective of MARIPOLDATA was to address these gaps by developing and applying a new multiscale methodology that grounds the analysis of science-policy interactions in empirical research. The research team mapped and traced the evolution of marine biodiversity politics and science from 2018 to 2023, providing primary data for various analyses.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The research conducted in MARIPOLDATA combined systematic observation of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) negotiations from 2018 to 2023 with an in-depth analysis of the scientific field of marine biodiversity and related research and monitoring practices. This approach aimed to assess global inequalities that shape science-policy interactions in marine biodiversity governance.

Collaborative Event Ethnography (CEE) at BBNJ and CBD Meetings: We mapped the entire stream of BBNJ negotiations that occurred in negotiation rooms, from the first intergovernmental conference in 2018 to the closing session in June 2023. Our team of seven researchers observed six intergovernmental conferences (IGCs) and forty-five inter-sessional meetings, both online and in-person, culminating in a two-day closing IGC. We aimed to enhance the value of ethnographic data collection and promote mixed-method approaches by providing data suitable for multiple analytical purposes and diverse research questions. This led to the development of the MARIPOLDATAbase, which is published in AUSSDA- The Austrian Social Science Data Archive open access (Vadrot et al. 2024 in Global Environmental Politics, Langlet, Vadrot et al. in AUSSDA).

In-Depth Analysis of the Scientific Field and Research Practices: We examined the marine biodiversity research field through bibliographic research, oral history, and laboratory ethnography. Our findings indicate that over the past two decades, the scientific study of marine biodiversity has become one of the most dynamic areas within environmental research, particularly in ocean science. Marine biodiversity research encompasses a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, scientific disciplines, and infrastructures for assessing patterns of change in the marine environment. Various topics and regions contribute to the broader scientific community's understanding of these patterns. However, legal, political, and territorial frameworks also shape scientific collaboration by determining access to marine environments and research opportunities. These dynamics are especially evident in international scientific collaborations. To analyze these dynamics within research practices, we conducted three laboratory ethnographies in Brazil, France, and the United States, as well as eleven six-hour oral history interviews to understand how these dynamics shape research careers and influence research interests.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

MARIPOLDATAbase: We developed and published the MARIPLDATAbase, which has systematically cataloged observations covering the entire Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) negotiations until their conclusion in June 2023. By providing primary data on the whole negotiation process, the MARIPOLDATAbase supports empirical, scholarly work on diverse aspects of international marine biodiversity politics (see Vadrot et al., 2024 in Global Environmental Politics, Langlet, Vadrot et al., 2024 in AUSSDA).

METHODOLOGICAL AND CONCEPTUAL INNOVATION: MARIPOLDATA introduced a conceptual and methodological shift in the study of global environmental negotiations echoing recent attempts to elevate the ethical standards, data quality, political stakes, and critical reflection on the future of global environmental meetings and their role in global environmental politics (GEP) research. Examples include:
1) the term "agreement-making", which broadens the conceptualisation of the actors, sites and processes constitutive of global environmental agreements and brings to the fore how these are shaped by, reflect and have the potential to re-make or transform the intertwined global order of social, political and economic relations (Hughes and Vadrot, 2023, Hughes, Vadrot et al., 2021).
2) the development of new concepts such as "expert authority shopping" (Langlet and Vadrot, 2024 in Global Environmental Politics), "pathways of scientific input" (Tessnow-von Wysocki and Vadrot, 2024 in International Environmental Agreements), "transformative power of scientific concepts" (Tessnow-von Wysocki and Vadrot, 2022 in Politics and Governance), "digital multilateralism" (Vadrot and Ruiz-Rodriguez, 2022 in International Studies Quarterly), "multilateral boundary work" (Ruiz Rodriguez and Vadrot, 2025 in International Affairs), "Selective World Building" (Tolochko and Vadrot, 2021 in Environmental Science and Policy), "Collaboration Capital" (Tolochko and Vadrot, 2021 in Marine Policy).
3) the development of a novel approach to writing field notes as a team in the context of global environmental negotiations (Vadrot et al., 2025 forthcoming in Qualitative Research)

Final Event

Field work

Field work

Twitter account

Kick off

Final Event

Field work

Project presentation