This book is a revised version of my PhD thesis whose original version was submitted to Utrecht University in December 2020 and defended in May 2021. Throughout my four-year PhD research, I am indebted to many persons and a number of institutions. Without the support and help from those persons and institutions, it would have been impossible for me to finalise my PhD research and publish the book. Firstly, I would like to give tremendous thanks to my supervisors, Prof. Alex G. Oude Elferink and Dr. Erik J. Molenaar. I am grateful to Prof. Alex G. Oude Elferink for offering me the opportunity to conduct the PhD research at Utrecht University (UU) and providing me insightful and helpful comments and suggestions on the draft manuscript of my thesis. I also appreciate the co-supervision of Dr. Erik J. Molenaar who has taken over as my co-supervisor since February 2020; his comments helped me a lot in finalising this thesis during the final phase of my PhD project. In addition, I would also like to thank Dr. Otto Spijkers for co-supervising my research until the end of January 2020, continuing providing me the comments afterwards and cooperating with me in co-authoring papers and co-coaching the UU team in the NILOS Moot Court Competition.
I would like to give many thanks to the members of the reading committee of my PhD thesis, Prof. Cedric Ryngaert, Prof. Donald R. Rothwell, Prof. Ingvild U. Jakobsen, Prof. Liesbeth Lijnzaad and Prof. Robin M. Warner. Their invaluable assessments and comments inspired me and helped me prepare the version for publication.
I would also like to thank the publisher – Brill – for publishing the book so that the outcome of my research can reach wider audience, which I believe will contribute to the discussion on the legal issues of MPA s in ABNJ within both the academia and the ongoing BBNJ negotiations. I would also like to give my gratitude to the editors of the Publications on Ocean Development series and the two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments and suggestions, which helped me a lot in finalising the version for publication. Many thanks are also given to Kelley Baylis for dealing with my submission and forwarding the feedback from the editors and reviewers to me timely.
I am grateful to the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for funding my four-year PhD research. I would also like to acknowledge the IER department of the School of Law of UU, the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS) and the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law (UCWOSL) for all tangible and intangible resources. Thanks are also given to Law School of Hainan University for offering me a position to continue my research in the field of international law of the sea and public international law after I finished the PhD research.
I would also like to acknowledge Prof. Ying Song – the supervisor of my master study at Peking University – for introducing me to the research of legal issues relating to MPA s seven years ago and motivating me to pursue a PhD research in that respect.
I am also grateful to those friends who, despite the geographical distance, still kept in touch with me and kept my spirit up when I engaged in the PhD journey: Xiaoyu Zhang, Yuan Gao, Xiaohang Chen, Luoyi Shen, Ze Liu, Qi Xu, Xuechan Ma, Xuexia Liao, Ke Song, Yiwen Qiu, Tianxiang Zhang, Yan Zhang, Jia Song, Xinjie Zhang and Jiaheng Lin.
Lastly, and most importantly, I owe much to my parents Lianyi Duan and Xinling Zhang for their selfless love and constant (financial and mental) support in my pursuit of the PhD degree. I also owe my deep gratitude to my wife Yingxian Wu for tolerating the long-distance relationship and bringing me a great deal of happiness and comfort during my four-year PhD life.