해양환경분야 국제협약의 실행에 대한 자치적 이행조직의 역할에 관한 연구 - 공해보호를 위한 생태계 접근법의 이행을 중심으로 -

This study mainly examined whether autonomous institutional arrangements, which have an ad hoc and flexible nature and are informal and innovative, have contributed to conserving marine ecosystems on the high seas through swift adoption and implementation of the ecosystem approach. The study first introduced the concept of autonomous institutional arrangements and the distinction between autonomous institutional arrangements and inter-governmental organisations. Then, it reviewed marine environmental agreements that have expressly or institutionally established autonomous institutional arrangements and examined whether they have adopted the ecosystem approach for the conservation of high seas ecosystems. While this type of arrangement has not actively practiced the ecosystem approach to protect the high seas, this study draws examples of some inter-governmental organizations established for the conservation of marine living resources, which have taken up measures for the conservation of high seas ecosystems combined with the ecosystem approach. The lesson that can be learned after this examination is that although autonomous institutional arrangements have structural advantages to flexibly deal with new issues, the form of institutional arrangement for future regimes on ocean conservation should not necessarily be confined to the autonomous institutional arrangements.