Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems: a concept to be applied for different anthropogenic activities

The vulnerability of deep-sea biodiversity has been recognized by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations were then asked to develop guidelines for the management of deep-sea fisheries in the high seas (FAO, 2009). Those guidelines included criteria for defining what constitutes a VME: (1) uniqueness or rarity; (2) functional significance of the habitat; (3) fragility; (4) life history traits of component species that make recovery difficult; and (5) structural complexity. The VMEs concept was developed in the framework of fisheries. However, with the crescent use of deep-sea environments, we advocate that the concept should also be framed to other industries such as deep-sea mining, oil and gas, and use in future regulations.  The concept shall also be used for the identification of areas to be protected under the Kuming -Montreal agreement and BBNJ treaty.