Ocean Governance Incubator Project - BBNJ Workshop

During the workshop, experts will present three different cases on (1) Deep Seabed Mining, (2) the BBNJ Agreement and the Antarctic Treaty System and (3) Non-participation in the BBNJ Agreement. Afterwards, workshop participants will delve further into one of these case studies through scenario-building.

The BBNJ Agreement will be operating alongside other instruments, frameworks and bodies (IFBs) with competencies in relation to BBNJ. The BBNJ Agreement addresses its relationship with these IFBs among others in its article 5(2), which provides that the Agreement “shall be interpreted and applied in a manner that does not undermine relevant [IFBs] and that promotes coherence and coordination with those [IFBs]”. The Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) provides a significant example of such an IFB. Decision making in the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), one of the key elements of the ATS, on the designation of marine protected areas has been in a deadlock for over a decade. The BBNJ Agreement might potentially offer an opportunity to break this deadlock. However, States participating in the ATS and CCAMLR have been arguing that the BBNJ Agreement should not have any role in the Southern Ocean. What does that bode for the BBNJ Agreement in the Southern Ocean and may there be a spill over effect to other regions?

Non-participation of specific states has a significant impact on the functioning of rules-based international orders and can pose a serious challenge. For ocean order, the fact that the United States is not a party to UNCLOS and the US and other States may not ratify the BBNJ Agreement is a particularly pressing issue. What are the implications of such non-participation for the biodiversity goals of the BBNJ Agreement? And how might the existence of different rules for different states in areas beyond national jurisdiction challenge ocean order? The current US push towards deep-sea mining beyond UNCLOS is a case in point of the kind of issues this may raise.

Smaller groups will delve further into one of these case studies. They are tasked to envision the future impact of these challenges: what are the possible consequences (best and worst case) of these issues? Does the BBNJ Agreement potentially provide the tools for alleviating these consequences? If not, what other means would be needed to do so?