Adapting international law to novel conservation requirement
The revision of the Protocol on Specially Protected Areas to the Barcelona Convention, concluded in 1995, allowed to include the possibility for Mediterranean States to extend place-based protection to the Mediterranean high seas. This inclusion was proposed by legal experts who had been involved in the Pelagos Sanctuary negotiations, and eventually led to the listing of the Pelagos Sanctuary as a SPAMI.
Simultaneous revision of the Barcelona Convention and its Protocols; coincidence of Pelagos Sanctuary negotiators with Barcelona Convention revision negotiators.
This building block was in large part serendipitous, as it wouldn't have been possible to plan it ahead of time. However it demonstrates the advantages of ensuring that there is cross-cutting communication among the conservation and policy actors at the regional level.