Current legal regime for environmental impact assessment in areas beyond national jurisdiction and its future approaches

•We identify human activities in ABNJ and their impacts on marine ecosystems.•We analyze the characters and gaps of the existing legal regime for EIA in ABNJ.•We analyze the pros and cons of alternative approaches of EIA in ABNJ.

In 2004, the United Nations launched an Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. Since then, the topic of governing marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) has been widely discussed by politicians, policy makers and scholars. As one of management tools to protect marine biodiversity in ABNJ, environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been widely recognized and accepted by the international community, however, the biggest challenge is how to effectively implement the EIA regime in ABNJ. This paper explores the impacts of anthropogenic activities in ABNJ on marine ecosystems, reviews the existing legal regime for EIA in ABNJ and discusses possible measures to strengthen the implementation of EIA in ABNJ.