This page compiles resources written about the Sargasso Sea Commission from a legal, policy-focused, and social science lens. Most of them have been authored by those involved in the Sargasso Sea Commission Secretariat, the Sargasso Sea Project Inc. Board, or other supporters and friends.

For scientific reports, please visit our Science Report Series page. For reports produced by the Commission, please visit our Commission Reports page.

Please contact the Secretariat for help sourcing papers.

Laffoley, D.d'A., Roe, H. S. J., Angel, M. V., Ardron, J., Bates, N. R., Boyd, L. L., et al. (2011). The Protection and Management of the Sargasso Sea: The Golden Floating Rainforest of the Atlantic Ocean. Summary Science and Supporting Evidence Case. Washington DC: Sargasso Sea Alliance. 44pp. http://www.sargassoseacommission.0rg/storage/documents/Sargasso.Report.9.12.pdf

This is the summary science case produced by the Commission in 2011 - it provided essential evidence for all arguments that the area should be conserved.

Freestone, D. and Morrison, K.K. (2012). The Sargasso Sea Alliance: Seeking to Protect the Sargasso Sea. Intl. J. Mar. Coast. Law 27, 647-655.

This article provides useful historical and political background about how the Sargasso Sea Alliance, later the Sargasso Sea Commission, was established. 

Freestone, D. (2016). "Governance of areas beyond national jurisdiction: an unfinished agenda?" in Law of the Sea: UNCLOS as a Living Treaty, eds J. Barrett and R. Barnes (London: British Institute of International and Comparative Law), 231–266.

Examines gaps in high seas ocean governance and analyses BBNJ treaty negotiations in 2016.

Freestone, D. and Gjerde, K. (2016). Lessons from the Sargasso Sea: Challenges to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. http://www.sargassoseacommission.org/storage/SargassoBrochure.FIN.pdf 

Pamphlet about what the Sargasso Sea project (Sargasso Sea Alliance and later Sargasso Sea Commission) have demonstrated about the process of ocean governance more broadly.

Balton, D. (2021) Strengthening the Stewardship of the Sargasso Sea in (Long, R., and Barnes, R., eds.) Frontiers in International Environmental Law: Oceans and Climate Challenges: Essays in Honour of David Freestone Brill Nijhoff 490–512.

Freestone, D. Laffoley, D., Douvere, F., and Badman, T. (2016). World Heritage in the High Seas: An Idea Whose Time has come. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000245467

Freestone, D., and Harris, V. (2017). "Particularly sensitive sea areas beyond national jurisdiction: time to chart a new course?" in International Marine Economy: Law and Policy, eds. M. Nordquist, J. N. Moore, and R. Long (Leiden: Brill Nijhoff), 322–361. doi: 10.1163/9789004323445_014 

Freestone, D. (2018) "Marine Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction" in The Future of Ocean Governance and Training: Essays in Honour of Elisabeth Mann Borgese (1918-2002), ed. International Ocean Institute, (Nijhoff Brill) 147-151. doi: 10.1163/9789004380271_025

Freestone, D. (2019). The UN Process to Develop an International Legally Binding Instrument under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention: Issues and Challenges in (Freestone, D., ed.) Conserving Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. Leiden: Brill Nijhoff, 3-46.

Freestone, D. (2021). The Sargasso Sea Commission: An Evolving New Paradigm for High Seas Ecosystem Governance? Front. Mar. Sci. 8,668253. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.668253 1-10.

Gjerde, K.M., and Varmer, O. (2021). "The Sargasso Sea: An Innovative Approach to Governance in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction" in Frontiers in International Environmental Law: Oceans and Climate Challenges: Essays in Honour of David Freestone eds. Long, R., and Barnes, R., (Brill Nijhoff) 446–489

IUCN (2008). High Seas Gems; Hidden Treasures of our Blue Earth. https://www.iucn.org/content/high-seas-gems-hidden-treasures-our-blue-earth

Pendleton, L., Krowicki, F., Strosser, P., Hallett-Murdoch, J. (2014). Assessing the Economic Contribution of Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Services in the Sargasso Sea. https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/sites/default/files/publications/ni_r_14-05_full_pdf.pdf

Roe, H. S. J., Freestone, D., Kell, L., Luckhurst, B. E., and Warren, T. (2021). "Chapter 7Q The Sargasso Sea," in UN Second World Ocean Assessment, World Ocean Assessment II United Nations, ISBN:978-92-1-1-130422-0

Freestone, D., Roe, H. S. J., Inniss, L., Laffoley, D., Morrison, K. K., Rice, J., and Trott, T. (2016). "Chapter 50 The Sargasso Sea," in UN First World Ocean Assessment. https://www.un.org/depts/los/global_reporting/woa_RPROC/Chapter_50.pdf