Senior Research Fellow Dr. Tara Davenport presented at the 2022 IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium on ‘Common Heritage of Humankind (CHH) as a basis for Environmental Governance’ on 13 July 2022, where she gave an overview of how the CHH principle developed and the tension between intergenerational equity (the preservation of natural resources for future generations) and intra-generational equity (the benefits to current generations and particular developing states through the exploitation of natural resources).  She concluded that we are still in need of a better articulation of the benefits to mankind provided by the CHH principle and that it goes beyond wealth distribution; it should take an ecological view that recognises the value of oceans as performing vital ecological functions.