Pascale Ricard

Pascale Ricard is a legal researcher at the CNRS and a member of the Centre for International and Community Studies and Research (CERIC) team at UMR 7318 - International, Comparative and European Law at Aix-Marseille University. Her work focuses primarily on the conservation of marine biodiversity in international law. She is particularly interested in the relationship between legal norms and how requirements relating to the preservation of biodiversity and the marine environment, which are cross-cutting in nature, are integrated into the various branches of international law. Her recent work aims to analyze whether international law relating to the conservation of marine biodiversity is sufficiently equipped to take global changes into account.

Project 

Title: ZONABYSSES

In addition to current uses of the deep sea (fishing, laying cables and pipelines, oil and gas exploitation, and marine genetic resources), new uses will be added in the future (mining, geoengineering, geothermal energy), each of which, individually or collectively, could have a detrimental effect on the marine environment. In recent years, ocean law has developed numerous legal tools for protecting the marine environment through zoning, which could be used in this context to reduce the impact of these human activities on the marine environment. The ZONABYSSES project therefore aims to list the various tools for protecting the marine environment through zoning, whether marine protected areas or other area-based conservation measures, and then to examine their scientific and social relevance in terms of conservation objectives, using an ecosystem approach to the deep sea. The first step will be to map and categorize deep-sea zoning management tools by cross-referencing existing databases, followed by an interdisciplinary analysis of the adequacy of their legal regimes in relation to conservation objectives. The research will focus on the deep sea beyond areas of national jurisdiction (including the high seas and the Area), i.e., where international governance of these areas is currently being developed.

Institutions: CNRS - CERIC

Selection of publications

• S. Gambardella, P. Ricard, S. Martini, C. Marc et M. Bellinghery, Profondeurs : Les secrets des grands fonds marins, CNRS Editions 2025.
• P. Ricard, « L’articulation entre le droit spécial de l’AIFM et le nouvel Accord ’BBNJ’ en matière de conservation et d’utilisation durable de la biodiversité marine », Actes du colloque de Toulon : Les fonds marins : du littoral aux abysses, La Revue Maritime, 2024.
• P. Ricard, « La Partie XII de la CNUDM, 40 ans après Montego Bay », M.-P. Lanfranchi (Dir.), La CNUDM. Bilan et perspectives,Confluence des droits, 2024, pp. 337-359.
• P. Ricard, « The Advent of the 2023 “BBNJ” Agreement: A Preliminary Legal Analysis », Environmental Policy and Law, vol. 53, no. 5-6, pp. 427-437, 2023.
• P. Ricard, « Érosion de la biodiversité : l’Accord de Kunming-Montréal sur le cadre mondial post-2020, une réponse suffisante face à l’urgence écologique actuelle ? », Annuaire français de droit international (AFDI) 2022, vol. 68, 2023, pp. 121-139.