This article examines international legal norms, principles, and mechanisms for protecting aquatic plant ecosystems in the high seas within the framework of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction. It examines the specifics of their legal status in the international legal system, the relationship between the subject of regulation, scope, and legal force, and the effectiveness of the marine environment protection mechanisms enshrined therein. Particular attention is paid to identifying gaps in legal regulation, including the lack of specialized norms aimed at protecting aquatic flora, as well as assessing the potential of the ecosystem approach and spatial management measures to ensure the conservation of marine ecosystems. The research methodology is based on the application of general scientific and specialized legal methods to analyze the international legal mechanism for the protection of aquatic plant ecosystems in the high seas within the framework of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Agreement on Biodiversity. Analysis, synthesis, and the comparative legal method are used to identify conflicts and assess the novelty of legal regulation. The scientific novelty of this study lies in its comparative legal analysis of the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, as they relate to the protection of aquatic flora. The article formulates and systematizes the key characteristics of aquatic plants, allowing us to identify the range of objects subject to legal relations for their conservation and protection. Aquatic flora is considered an independent object of legal protection within the structure of marine ecosystems, whose legal status in international law is characterized by uncertainty and the lack of specific regulation. Additionally, the paper reflects the position of the Russian Federation regarding the Agreement on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, including arguments related to the risks of restricting access to biological resources and the potential duplication of international regulatory mechanisms.
Anastasia Aleksandrovna Stepanova (Sun,) studied this question.