Rachel Tiller
Biographic Data
| ID | 6719293 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rachel Tiller |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rachel |
| FAMILY NAME | Tiller |
| SIGNATURE | TILLER R |
| AFFILIATIONS | SINTEF |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2505-9194 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 20 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Process without progress
The second part of the fifth session of the UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) on plastic pollution was held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 5 to 15 August 2025. Despite a sense of urgency, 2,600 participants, including delegations from 183 countries and hundreds of observers, negotiators left Geneva without consensus on a final agreement. Delegates decided to put the negotiations on pause, demonstrating a continued c…
Competing axes of power in the global plastics treaty
Headlines in December 2024 proclaimed the “collapse” and “failure” of United Nations plastics treaty negotiations in Busan, South Korea. This is, however, an overly simplistic and pessimistic portrayal. Progress on less contentious issues was made, and the meeting was adjourned with a commitment to continue negotiating in 2025 on the basis of the “Chair’s text.” Significantly, at the closing plenary, a majority of states voiced support for a “hig…
Fishing for solutions
Fisheries and other activities that exploit nature threaten biodiversity if not effectively managed. With global population growth and increasing demand for seafood, pressure on marine resource-based activities, including fisheries, increases. Concurrently, economic incentives, weak management, and inadequate enforcement enable Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, undermining sustainability. Achieving a sustainable global fishery t…
Five’s a crowd
The United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) convened its fifth session of negotiations (INC-5.1) on a new international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution from November 25–December 2, 2024, in Busan, South Korea. Initially anticipated to be the final session of negotiations, INC-5.1 concluded without reaching a consensus, highlighting divides among negotiating state parties. A central point of contention…
Using multi-actor labs as a tool to drive sustainability transitions in coastal-rural territories
Evidence on the efficacy of impacts from real-world experiments in triggering transformative processes is still scarce. This study evaluates multi-actor labs to provide examples of direct impacts of real-world experiments in tackling long-standing, local, sustainability challenges.Multi-actor labs (MALs), a form of real-world social experiments, were implemented in three coastal-rural regions in France (Charente River Basin), Spain (Mar Menor), a…
Standoff at the four-way stop sign
Within the final session of negotiations inching forward, the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) completed its fourth session of negotiations (out of five) on an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) to “end plastic pollution.” This paper examines the results of the fourth session of negotiations INC-4, which took place from April 23 to 29th, 2024, in Ottawa, Canada. In this perspective paper, we analyze t…
It takes two to tango
The United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) has completed its second round of negotiations on a new international legally binding instrument to ‘end plastic pollution’. This paper examines the results of the second session of negotiations, which took place May 29–June 2, 2023, and analyses the trends, barriers, and themes shaping the emerging legally binding instrument. The paper considers the discussion surrounding the …
The Rule of Three
Mesopelagics–New gold rush or castle in the sky
The growing world population requires large, renewable sources of nutritional food. Fish and other marine resources are nutrient dense and rich in healthy marine omega-3 lipids (EPA and DHA) beneficial to humans and animals alike. However, only about 6% of current fisheries are underexploited. Although improvements in fisheries management can increase marine production, aquaculture and untapped marine resources may contribute to a greater degree.…
And so it begins – The adoption of the ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ treaty
After five years of negotiations, the ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ (BBNJ) treaty was adopted on June 19th 2023. This adoption meeting was of a celebratory kind and included the final version of the draft treaty in all six languages – ready to be adopted, signed, ratified and enter into force – sooner rather than later. This short communication examines the narratives during this final meeting and assesses the language around the pa…
The ship has reached the shore
The negotiations for a new legal instrument for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) concluded in March 2023 with a successful, and somewhat surprising, finalization of a treaty. The BBNJ treaty is a remarkable achievement. But these outcomes – the circumstances of finalization and the content of the final agreement – are complicated to explain. They are the result of the complex interactions between different avenues of influence and…
Shake it Off
The process for formulating a new treaty for ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ (BBNJ) has been long. Since informal discussions began in 2004, the international community has devoted nearly 20 years to setting the agenda, circumscribing the issue areas, and negotiating the terms of a legally binding BBNJ instrument. The fourth and fifth inter-governmental conferences (IGCs), which both occurred in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to COV…
AI in the Wild
Direction, not detail
After a two year delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the fourth intergovernmental conference (IGC-4) in the negotiations for a new UN treaty to address the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) took place in March 2022. This meeting differed substantially from previous IGCs in terms of process, with much of the discussions occurring in 'informal informals,' or off-the-record meetings open o…
Social capital and institutional complexity in Svalbard
Purpose Resilience can be understood as the ability of communities to adapt to disturbances in a way that reduces chronic vulnerability and promotes growth. Disaster scholars assert that resilience is developed through a set of adaptive capacities across multiple domains, including society, the economy, the built and natural environments, and sociopolitical institutions. These adaptive capacities have been thought to be networked, but little is k…
Risk perception and risk realities in forming legally binding agreements
The effectiveness of a legally binding treaty to manage plastic pollution will depend on how people perceive the risk of the problem in terms of both whether and how much they fear it. Plastic pollution caught the attention of the global public owing to uncertainty surrounding potential human health impacts. Despite an initial concern about human exposure, especially to microplastics, scientific evidence started emerging that the risks of ingesti…
‘Is there a court that rules them all’? Ocean disputes, forum shopping and the future of Svalbard
European policies and legislation targeting ocean acidification in european waters - Current state
Ocean acidification (OA) is a global problem with profoundly negative environmental, social and economic consequences. From a governance perspective, there is a need to ensure a coordinated effort to directly address it. This study reviews 90 legislative documents from 17 countries from the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK that primarily border the sea. The primary finding from this study is that the European national policies and legislat…
Stuck in the middle with you (and not much time left)
The third of four scheduled Inter-Governmental Conferences on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction met in New York in August 2019. This article tracks the progress made in the negotiations, focusing on the four key themes the draft treaty is addressing: (1) marine genetic resources, (2) area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, (3) environmental impact assessments, and (4) c…
Challenges in the impact evaluation of behaviour change interventions
Robust impact evaluations are needed for conservation to learn and grow as a field. Currently we lack a large body of evidence on the effects of behaviour change interventions in social‐ecological systems. By uncovering mechanistic relationships and establishing causality we can refine future programmes to enhance likelihood of effectiveness. Although a range of sophisticated methodological approaches to evaluation have been developed, conceptual…
Protecting biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction
In September 2018, following over a decade of informal discussions, the United Nations General Assembly launched an intergovernmental conference to address the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. This process is scheduled to take two years and is structured around four themes: marine genetic resources, area-based management tools (including marine protected areas), environmental impact assessments, and c…
Ocean plastics and the BBNJ treaty—is plastic frightening enough to insert itself into the BBNJ treaty, or do we need to wait for a treaty of its own
Marine litter, and plastics in particular, is fast rising to the top of the political agenda at all levels of governance. The popular phrase today, evoked at all political meetings, in all speeches and at all cocktail parties, is that by 2050, there will be more plastics than fish in the ocean. This is a simple and valid prediction naturally, since global fish stocks are fished at capacity and therefore not increasing in number—whereas the inflow…
International regime analyses in the northeast Atlantic
Risk perception and risk realities in forming legally binding agreements
The effectiveness of a legally binding treaty to manage plastic pollution will depend on how people perceive the risk of the problem in terms of both whether and how much they fear it. Plastic pollution caught the attention of the global public owing to uncertainty surrounding potential human health impacts. Despite an initial concern about human exposure, especially to microplastics, scientific evidence started emerging that the risks of ingesti…
It takes two to tango
The United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) has completed its second round of negotiations on a new international legally binding instrument to ‘end plastic pollution’. This paper examines the results of the second session of negotiations, which took place May 29–June 2, 2023, and analyses the trends, barriers, and themes shaping the emerging legally binding instrument. The paper considers the discussion surrounding the …
Protecting biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction
In September 2018, following over a decade of informal discussions, the United Nations General Assembly launched an intergovernmental conference to address the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. This process is scheduled to take two years and is structured around four themes: marine genetic resources, area-based management tools (including marine protected areas), environmental impact assessments, and c…
Ocean plastics and the BBNJ treaty—is plastic frightening enough to insert itself into the BBNJ treaty, or do we need to wait for a treaty of its own
Marine litter, and plastics in particular, is fast rising to the top of the political agenda at all levels of governance. The popular phrase today, evoked at all political meetings, in all speeches and at all cocktail parties, is that by 2050, there will be more plastics than fish in the ocean. This is a simple and valid prediction naturally, since global fish stocks are fished at capacity and therefore not increasing in number—whereas the inflow…
The Rule of Three
International regime analyses in the northeast Atlantic
Ocean plastics and the BBNJ treaty—is plastic frightening enough to insert itself into the BBNJ treaty, or do we need to wait for a treaty of its own
Marine litter, and plastics in particular, is fast rising to the top of the political agenda at all levels of governance. The popular phrase today, evoked at all political meetings, in all speeches and at all cocktail parties, is that by 2050, there will be more plastics than fish in the ocean. This is a simple and valid prediction naturally, since global fish stocks are fished at capacity and therefore not increasing in number—whereas the inflow…
Protecting biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction
In September 2018, following over a decade of informal discussions, the United Nations General Assembly launched an intergovernmental conference to address the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. This process is scheduled to take two years and is structured around four themes: marine genetic resources, area-based management tools (including marine protected areas), environmental impact assessments, and c…
‘Is there a court that rules them all’? Ocean disputes, forum shopping and the future of Svalbard
European policies and legislation targeting ocean acidification in european waters - Current state
Ocean acidification (OA) is a global problem with profoundly negative environmental, social and economic consequences. From a governance perspective, there is a need to ensure a coordinated effort to directly address it. This study reviews 90 legislative documents from 17 countries from the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK that primarily border the sea. The primary finding from this study is that the European national policies and legislat…
Stuck in the middle with you (and not much time left)
The third of four scheduled Inter-Governmental Conferences on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction met in New York in August 2019. This article tracks the progress made in the negotiations, focusing on the four key themes the draft treaty is addressing: (1) marine genetic resources, (2) area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, (3) environmental impact assessments, and (4) c…
Challenges in the impact evaluation of behaviour change interventions
Robust impact evaluations are needed for conservation to learn and grow as a field. Currently we lack a large body of evidence on the effects of behaviour change interventions in social‐ecological systems. By uncovering mechanistic relationships and establishing causality we can refine future programmes to enhance likelihood of effectiveness. Although a range of sophisticated methodological approaches to evaluation have been developed, conceptual…
Direction, not detail
After a two year delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the fourth intergovernmental conference (IGC-4) in the negotiations for a new UN treaty to address the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) took place in March 2022. This meeting differed substantially from previous IGCs in terms of process, with much of the discussions occurring in 'informal informals,' or off-the-record meetings open o…
Social capital and institutional complexity in Svalbard
Purpose Resilience can be understood as the ability of communities to adapt to disturbances in a way that reduces chronic vulnerability and promotes growth. Disaster scholars assert that resilience is developed through a set of adaptive capacities across multiple domains, including society, the economy, the built and natural environments, and sociopolitical institutions. These adaptive capacities have been thought to be networked, but little is k…
Risk perception and risk realities in forming legally binding agreements
The effectiveness of a legally binding treaty to manage plastic pollution will depend on how people perceive the risk of the problem in terms of both whether and how much they fear it. Plastic pollution caught the attention of the global public owing to uncertainty surrounding potential human health impacts. Despite an initial concern about human exposure, especially to microplastics, scientific evidence started emerging that the risks of ingesti…
Mesopelagics–New gold rush or castle in the sky
The growing world population requires large, renewable sources of nutritional food. Fish and other marine resources are nutrient dense and rich in healthy marine omega-3 lipids (EPA and DHA) beneficial to humans and animals alike. However, only about 6% of current fisheries are underexploited. Although improvements in fisheries management can increase marine production, aquaculture and untapped marine resources may contribute to a greater degree.…
And so it begins – The adoption of the ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ treaty
After five years of negotiations, the ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ (BBNJ) treaty was adopted on June 19th 2023. This adoption meeting was of a celebratory kind and included the final version of the draft treaty in all six languages – ready to be adopted, signed, ratified and enter into force – sooner rather than later. This short communication examines the narratives during this final meeting and assesses the language around the pa…
The ship has reached the shore
The negotiations for a new legal instrument for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) concluded in March 2023 with a successful, and somewhat surprising, finalization of a treaty. The BBNJ treaty is a remarkable achievement. But these outcomes – the circumstances of finalization and the content of the final agreement – are complicated to explain. They are the result of the complex interactions between different avenues of influence and…
Shake it Off
The process for formulating a new treaty for ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ (BBNJ) has been long. Since informal discussions began in 2004, the international community has devoted nearly 20 years to setting the agenda, circumscribing the issue areas, and negotiating the terms of a legally binding BBNJ instrument. The fourth and fifth inter-governmental conferences (IGCs), which both occurred in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to COV…
AI in the Wild
Using multi-actor labs as a tool to drive sustainability transitions in coastal-rural territories
Evidence on the efficacy of impacts from real-world experiments in triggering transformative processes is still scarce. This study evaluates multi-actor labs to provide examples of direct impacts of real-world experiments in tackling long-standing, local, sustainability challenges.Multi-actor labs (MALs), a form of real-world social experiments, were implemented in three coastal-rural regions in France (Charente River Basin), Spain (Mar Menor), a…
Standoff at the four-way stop sign
Within the final session of negotiations inching forward, the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) completed its fourth session of negotiations (out of five) on an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) to “end plastic pollution.” This paper examines the results of the fourth session of negotiations INC-4, which took place from April 23 to 29th, 2024, in Ottawa, Canada. In this perspective paper, we analyze t…
It takes two to tango
The United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) has completed its second round of negotiations on a new international legally binding instrument to ‘end plastic pollution’. This paper examines the results of the second session of negotiations, which took place May 29–June 2, 2023, and analyses the trends, barriers, and themes shaping the emerging legally binding instrument. The paper considers the discussion surrounding the …
The Rule of Three
Competing axes of power in the global plastics treaty
Headlines in December 2024 proclaimed the “collapse” and “failure” of United Nations plastics treaty negotiations in Busan, South Korea. This is, however, an overly simplistic and pessimistic portrayal. Progress on less contentious issues was made, and the meeting was adjourned with a commitment to continue negotiating in 2025 on the basis of the “Chair’s text.” Significantly, at the closing plenary, a majority of states voiced support for a “hig…
Fishing for solutions
Fisheries and other activities that exploit nature threaten biodiversity if not effectively managed. With global population growth and increasing demand for seafood, pressure on marine resource-based activities, including fisheries, increases. Concurrently, economic incentives, weak management, and inadequate enforcement enable Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, undermining sustainability. Achieving a sustainable global fishery t…
Five’s a crowd
The United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) convened its fifth session of negotiations (INC-5.1) on a new international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution from November 25–December 2, 2024, in Busan, South Korea. Initially anticipated to be the final session of negotiations, INC-5.1 concluded without reaching a consensus, highlighting divides among negotiating state parties. A central point of contention…
Process without progress
The second part of the fifth session of the UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) on plastic pollution was held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 5 to 15 August 2025. Despite a sense of urgency, 2,600 participants, including delegations from 183 countries and hundreds of observers, negotiators left Geneva without consensus on a final agreement. Delegates decided to put the negotiations on pause, demonstrating a continued c…
Political science (18 works) · Business (14 works) · Law (14 works) · Negotiation (14 works) · Treaty (13 works) · Ecology (11 works) · Geography (11 works) · International Maritime Law Issues (11 works) · Biology (8 works) · Economics (8 works)