AUTHOR=Chen Xidi , Zhong Yu , Zhang Lishan 

TITLE=A new horizon for rule-making in global ocean governance? Reflections on the IUCN’s contributions and limitations

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2025.1615329

DOI=10.3389/fmars.2025.1615329

ISSN=2296-7745

ABSTRACT=As traditional risks in global ocean governance continue to deteriorate and new challenges emerge, the state-centered pattern of the international rule-making approach often demonstrates inefficiency and lack of fairness, hindering the achievement of SDG 14 and damaging the common interests of the international community. In this context, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has successfully participated in the development of international legal rules over the past few decades, providing valuable perspectives for improving international rule-making in ocean governance as a non-state actor. However, due to various internal and external factors, the potential of this pattern is still limited. Therefore, to compensate the inherent shortcomings of state-led mechanisms for developing international legal rules, non-state actors including non-governmental organizations and organizations of hybrid nature are encouraged to deeply participate in and even lead the international rule-making in ocean governance, while maintaining their neutrality and representativeness. This paper not only further clarifies the role of non-state actors in environmental and ocean governance, but can also contribute to the study of contemporary development models of the law of the sea.