In June 2023, the UN adopted an agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in the two-thirds of the ocean that lies beyond any country's national jurisdiction. This agreement is also known as the BBNJ Treaty or the High Seas Treaty. It was opened for signature and ratification by the UN on 20 September 2023. The treaty is set to enter into force 120 days after the 60th country ratifies it. To become fully operational, several initiatives and measures are still required. The enforcement of this treaty is crucial due to its comprehensive approach to protecting the high seas.

The treaty required parties to ensure that marine genetic resources (MGRs) are accessed only with the free, prior and informed consent and involvement of those Indigenous peoples and local communities. It is mentionable here that the term "MGRs" refers to the genetic code and other information, including digital sequencing information, contained in marine life that might potentially hold commercial value, and when MGRs are associated with traditional knowledge held by Indigenous peoples and local communities.

The treaty states that access to and benefit-sharing from, MGRs should be fair and equitable, build developing countries’ capacity and advance the generation of knowledge and innovation. The treaty, which does not restrict access to MGRs, sets out obligations for "State Parties" to transparently share information about their collection and use of these resources, and to share opportunities for scientists, especially those from developing countries, to access high seas MGRs and participate in related research.

The treaty also specifies that benefits from MGRs, including monetary benefits, must be shared fairly and equitably. Still, it leaves it up to the future BBNJ body to determine exactly how that sharing will happen. In the meantime, the treaty obliges developed "State Parties" to contribute a specific amount of money to a special fund that will be used to assist developing countries in implementing the treaty. The treaty also establishes a committee to help create detailed guidelines and modalities for sharing benefits from MGRs.

Washington-based research organisation Pew Research Center’s analysis of the "area-based management tools" provides that “this chapter of the treaty sets out the legal pathway and process for countries to establish area-based management tools (ABMTs), including marine protected areas (MPAs), in the high seas. The treaty’s ABMT provisions will be essential to help the global community achieve the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. The Convention on Biological Diversity adopted that goal known as "30 by 30" in 2022.

The BBNJ treaty does more than enable countries to establish high seas protections. It sets an objective for state parties to establish an “ecologically representative and well-connected network” of MPAs and to provide capacity and technology transfer to support developing countries in creating and implementing MPAs. The process for establishing an ABMT or MPA under the treaty begins with a treaty party submitting an MPA proposal and undertaking a robust stakeholder consultation process. After input from consultations is taken into account, the BBNJ scientific body reviews and assesses the proposal before it advances to the BBNJ decision-making body.

That body will weigh stakeholder and scientific body input when deciding on whether to establish the MPA. The decision-making body will aim to adopt MPAs by consensus but can adopt the MPA by a three-fourths majority vote if consensus cannot be reached….”

I would like to mention that, this particular treaty has provisions for environmental impact assessments, capacity-building and transfer of marine technology. But the question is – what is next? Pew’s data provides that the first COP meeting will take place within one year after the agreement enters into force. There is still a lot of work to be done before the treaty can be operational. For example, while the treaty established several different bodies to help carry out its work, many key details for those bodies such as rules of procedure and qualifications to serve on committees and mobilisation of financial resources—need to be fleshed out. By engaging in preparatory meetings to settle these details, state parties can help facilitate rapid implementation of the agreement. Additionally, while the agreement provides a legal mechanism to establish a network of high-seas MPAs, the global community will still need to develop proposals for priority areas for protection. Governments, scientists, funders, advocates and other stakeholders can begin advancing and sharing scientific knowledge of such areas and building national and regional capacity and technology.