Innovative science-policy interfaces for effective ocean biodiversity conservation

One essential form of collaborative capacity building in ocean governance are science-policy interfaces (SPI). Research on SPIs for biodiversity conservation focuses on SPIs at international scales (especially on IPBES) and on SPIs relating primarily to terrestrial and coastal ecosystems. There is only a small number of SPIs that relate to biodiversity conservation in the high seas, and consequently there are also only a few studies that have analysed these science-policy interfaces.

Focusing on SPIs to be created in the context of the BBNJ agreement, success factors are identified for an innovative design of SPIs that effectively contribute to ocean biodiversity conservation. These success factors are identified on the basis of a systematic literature review of scientific studies on marine biodiversity SPIs, interviews with experts involved in existing SPIs addressing ocean biodiversity conservation (e.g., WESTPAC), innovative approaches for transdisciplinary knowledge integration (integrating system, target and transformative knowledge, which reduces informational and normative uncertainties), and procedures for actionable knowledge creation (building on findings from behaviour change research). A key criterion for assessing the success of existing SPIs on marine biodiversity based on the systematic literature review and expert interviews is whether and how the SPIs have contributed to concrete policies for protecting and restoring ocean biodiversity (e.g., to decisions on the designation of specific marine protected areas).

The identified success factors go beyond previous lists of success factors for SPIs, which identified generic factors such as credibility, relevance and legitimacy, by describing specific procedures for the legitimate selection of experts from science and politics to be involved in the SPIs and specific methods for integrating knowledge to be credible, relevant and actionable. To illustrate how these success factors can be put into practice, concrete recommendations for the design of BBNJ-related SPIs at international (for the planned ‘Scientific and Technical Body’) and national levels (a potential BBNJ-related SPI in Germany) are developed.