Waterspirit’s Executive Director spent the past two weeks attending important negotiations about marine biodiversity at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. These sessions were the third and final Preparatory Commission meetings for the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (also called the BBNJ, or High Seas Treaty). This was the member states’ final attempt to reach agreement about important mechanisms that will allow this treaty to successfully launch at the first COP for the ocean in January 2027. However, not as much progress was made as we had hoped for. Member states will still need to find common ground about financial rules, functioning of subsidiary bodies, and other critical operational issues at COP-1, rather than hitting the ground running with all procedures in place. We also have lingering questions about how the BBNJ will work in conjunction with other UN mechanisms such as the International Seabed Authority, which is currently negotiating a mining code that could allow deep sea mining in international waters to begin.
What are some of the things that the BBNJ will do?
- Create and monitor Marine Protected Areas in international waters.
- Connect countries with resources to protect marine biodiversity.
- Incorporate Traditional Knowledge in marine biodiversity protection.
- Use the precautionary principle and cumulative impacts as guiding analytical approaches.
Waterspirit will continue to stay connected with the BBNJ process and the first COP for the ocean, to be held at United Nations Headquarters from January 11-22, 2027. If you are a UN-NGO representative who would like to join this work, please consider connecting with the Faith in the Ocean coalition to prepare for this conference.
