This chapter illuminates the extent to which the targets of SDG 15, Life on Land, reflect the international obligations of, and guidance adopted under, the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity as an umbrella convention with overarching legal principles and concepts. In doing so, it demonstrates the extent to which international human rights law can support joined-up implementation of the convention and other international environmental agreements with a view to realizing SDG 15 through policy coherence, notably in the context of land-based investments.

The ocean’s enormity and depth are illustrated by the limited ability of humankind to comprehend it. The current science and policy seascape remains largely fragmented, and as a result the integrity of marine life and the well-being of those (human and nonhuman) dependent on a healthy ocean is being negatively impacted. Fragmented governance is an indirect driver of ocean biodiversity loss due to its inability to provide synergistic solutions to address simultaneously multiple direct drivers for such loss (overfishing, land-based and marine pollution, and climate change). This governance problem is well known (Kelly et al., 2019; Watson-Wright and Valdés, 2018), and to some extent it is being addressed in ongoing international negotiations on an international instrument on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (A/RES/72/249, 2017).

While there are increasing calls for transformative change and transformative governance, what this means in the context of addressing biodiversity loss remains debated. The aim of this edited volume Transforming Biodiversity Governance is to open up this debate and identify ways forward in the context of the implementation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). To become transformative, biodiversity governance needs to be transformed: yet how and by whom? These questions are urgent, given the fact that around one million species are threatened with extinction (Díaz et al., 2019), despite over half a century of global efforts to avoid this tragedy.

INTRODUCTION

This chapter will discuss environmental cooperation between the EU and Korea against the background of the law and practice of the EU's external relations. It will identify environment-related provisions in the EU-Korea Framework Agreement and contrast them with other bilateral agreements concluded by the EU with third countries. It will then discuss two means of implementation: political dialogue and EU external funding. By fostering better understanding of the peculiarities and ambitions of the EU's approach to environmental integration in its external relations, the chapter will conclude by emphasising the opportunities and limitations of dialogue to strengthen environmental cooperation between the EU and Korea.

THE BASES OF ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION IN THE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

Overview

The environmental dimension of the Framework Agreement with Korea can be assessed from the viewpoint of environmental integration – a treaty-based requirement for the EU to integrate environmental concerns into the definition and implementation of its policies, including its external relations. To fulfill this obligation, the EU aims to include in its general bilateral agreements both environmental cooperation clauses (dealing solely with the environment) and environmental integration clauses (mandating or encouraging the incorporation of environmental concerns into other cooperation areas).