After decades of negotiations and a 36 hour-long meeting at the United Nations in New York, countries from around the world agreed to a new Ocean treaty in 2023. The landmark treaty governs Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction – what we call, BBNJ. A big task: It does not only protect marine life in the High Seas, but also ensures that benefits are shared fairly and equitably amongst all. The high seas, beyond national borders, cover two-thirds of the surface and nearly 95 percent of the volume of the entire ocean. But the treaty has not yet been ratified into domestic law by the 60+ countries needed to make it legally binding. This episode explores what happens next and how decisions now have real implications for ocean equity.
Join us and special guests Janine Felson and Adam McCarthy, the co-chairs of the Preparatory Commission for the entry into force of the BBNJ agreement.
The episode is published ahead of the First Preparatory Commission meeting April 14-25, 2025, in New York.
Guests: Janine Felson & Adam McCarthy
Hosts: Ina Tessnow-von Wysocki & Jennifer Macey
Sound design and editing: Emily Perkins
Communication: Sunnefa Yeatman
For comments & feedback please contact: inatvw@uow.edu.au
Find out more:
ANCORS Ocean Equity page https://oceanequityresearch.org/
ANCORS at the University of Wollongong https://www.uow.edu.au/ancors/
You can find official documents in preparation for the First Preparatory Commission Meeting on the United Nations Website: https://www.un.org/bbnjagreement/en/meetings/preparatory-commission/documents/first-session
Research on the BBNJ process by ANCORS researchers:
Dalaker, K. (2024). ‘A Commentary on the BBNJ Agreement Using the History of the Making of UNCLOS and Its Implementation Agreements’. Ocean Yearbook Online, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 125-60.
Kraabel, K. (2022). Institutional arrangements in a BBNJ treaty: Implications for Arctic marine science. Marine Policy, 142, 103807-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2019.103807
Lothian, S. (2023a). The BBNJ preamble: More than just window dressing. Marine Policy, 153, 105642-. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2023.105642
Lothian, S. (2023b). The BBNJ Agreement: Through the Prism of Deep-Sea Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems. Ocean Development and International Law, 54(4), 469–499. https://doi.org/10.1080/00908320.2023.2296400
Lothian, S. (2022). Marine conservation and international law: legal instruments for biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Tessnow-von Wysocki, I., & Vadrot, A. B. M. (2024). Pathways of scientific input into intergovernmental negotiations: a new agreement on marine biodiversity. International Environmental Agreements : Politics, Law and Economics, 24(2–3), 325–348. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10784-024-09642-0
Tessnow-von Wysocki, I. (2023). Science-policy interfaces for ocean protection: The case of the international negotiations for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). Doctoral Thesis. https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/detail/o:1978693
Tessnow-von Wysocki, I., & Vadrot, A. B. M. (2022). Governing a Divided Ocean: The Transformative Power of Ecological Connectivity in the BBNJ Negotiations. Politics and Governance, 10(3), 14–28. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v10i3.5428
Tessnow-von Wysocki, I., & Vadrot, A. B. M. (2020). The Voice of Science on Marine Biodiversity Negotiations: A Systematic Literature Review. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.614282