The negotiations on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction

On 3 December 2018, NILOS hosted Tom Diederen, Legal Officer of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who gave a presentation on (practical) insights into the negotiations on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) held at the UN.

The international community is indeed currently involved in the development of an international legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, referred to as the BBNJ process.

In September 2018, the process entered into a new phase, the Intergovernmental Conference, where the text of the future agreement is to be negotiated.
As a negotiator within the Dutch delegation to the BBNJ process, Tom discussed the following questions: what are the BBNJ-negotiations about? How are such international negotiations organised? Who (are able to) participate in the negotiations? How do States develop their positions? In what ways do States cooperate and take common positions? What does a typical BBNJ-day look like in New York?

Students from the LLM in Public International Law and staff members attended the event and participated in a lively discussion.