Gunnar Sander holds a MSc in planning from The Norwegian Institute of Technology (1982), an LLM in the law of the sea (2009) and a PhD in social science (2019) from The University of Tromsø. He has worked with impact assessments and environmental assessments throughout his career; the first 15 years, mostly at municipal level, with strategic planning and modelling of land-use, transport and environment as his core area. Corresponding multidisciplinary and multi-level challenges have also been his main interest since he started working with marine issues in 1997 at the Norwegian Polar Institute. There he was involved in building up an integrated monitoring and assessment system for the Norwegian Arctic, and the assess¬ments feeding into the political making of the management plan for the Barents Sea. He also was a seconded national expert to the European Environment Agency, working with the Arctic environment and the “Assessment of assessments” leading up to the World Ocean Assess¬ment. His PhD contains a policy perspective on ecosystem-based ocean management. He has also published on the legal obligations for SEA and EIA in international law and the negotiations on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction in the UN.