By Ina Tessnow-von Wysocki & Hussain Sinan
The new treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) has reached the necessary threshold for ratifications and will enter into force on January 17th 2026. On the way towards entry into force of the BBNJ Agreement, the Preparatory Commission met for the second time at the UN headquarters in New York between 18-29 August, 2025.
This time, one of the items on the agenda was the topic of cooperation and coordination with other existing instruments in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). The meeting gathered several organisations with mandates in areas beyond national jurisdiction which contributed with best practice examples and lessons learnt. ANCORS researchers and alumni attended the meetings on delegations of state, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations and have been involved in side events on Cooperation and coordination between BBNJ and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs).
An ocean of “instruments, frameworks and bodies” (IFBs)
One key objective of the BBNJ Agreement is to strengthen cooperation and coordination with and among other instruments, frameworks and bodies – or short IFBs – which have mandates in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This offers an opportunity for BBNJ to act as a catalyst for cooperation and coordination.
One can imagine the challenges of this task to coordinate the currently quite fragmented framework of different bodies that have mandate over certain areas of the ocean and govern different sectors, such as fishing, shipping or mining. But while the diversity of IFBs make such coordination complex, it also offers many best practices and lessons learnt, ranging from data collection and deep-sea knowledge to the identification of areas in need of protection and their monitoring and enforcement, the set-up of databases and experience with cross-sectoral governance. This creates an opportunity for the BBNJ to not only draw on these practices but also to adapt, integrate, and champion them across the global ocean governance landscape.
The second Preparatory Commission Meeting discussed the topic of cooperation and coordination in the first week on Wednesday and Thursday and continued on Thursday of week 2. Different levels of interaction were discussed, including from the side of the Secretariat, the Conference of the Parties, various subsidiary bodies and the responsibility of State Parties. While delegates generally supported maintaining flexibility in modalities for interaction between BBNJ and other IFBs, some concrete ideas already circulated in the room which may vary depending on the organisation at hand:
- The need for formal arrangements – like Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs), but also informal arrangements
- Annual review meetings between the Secretariat of BBNJ and the Secretariats of the IFBs
- Continuous and ad-hoc arrangements
- Mutual participation at meetings of the BBNJ COP and IFBs
- Possible interactions of the subsidiary bodies of BBNJ with IFBs and their institutions, e.g. their scientific advisory bodies
- The linking of databases
- And exchanging experiences and data
Many organisations with experience in ABNJ responded to the call of the United Nations Division on the Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS) to submit inputs regarding their mandates for cooperation with other bodies and established cooperative arrangements, attended the discussions, contributed with best practice examples and lessons learnt through interventions in the plenary and side events, including: The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, and OSPAR – just to name a few.
Overall, we could see great interest by IFBs in shaping the PrepCom through participation, interventions in the plenary, and side events – and the recognition by States to integrate IFBs in the process.
Getting ready for cooperation at Prepcom2
Several Side events in the margins of the PrepCom meeting were co-organised on the topic of cooperation and coordination by current and former ANCORS affiliates.
On Monday, 25th August, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, New Zealand, the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission invited to the side event: Fisheries and the BBNJ Agreement. The event brought together fisheries experts from national, regional, and global levels to examine the implications of the BBNJ Agreement for fisheries and to discuss how fisheries considerations can be integrated into its implementation. Participants also explored opportunities to strengthen cooperation and collaboration between the BBNJ Agreement and fisheries bodies.
FAO presented its ongoing work and outlined mechanisms within the organisation to enhance coordination among international fisheries bodies (IFBs). Ms. Rhea Moss-Christian, Executive Director of the WCPFC, emphasised that tuna RFMOs and the BBNJ Agreement share the goal of conserving and sustainably using biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). She highlighted that tuna RFMOs operate under long-standing, binding mandates for high seas fisheries, supported by monitoring systems and strong scientific expertise, and stressed that future cooperation must be structured, legally coherent, practical, and science-based.
Mr. Adam Berry, Chair of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), pointed to existing mechanisms within COFI that facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing among organisations. Dr. Sinan from the Maldives underlined the deep connectivity between the ocean and small island developing states (SIDS), stressing the importance of designing effective cooperation mechanisms. Finally, Mr. Ivan Lopez, Chair of the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations, underscored the need for IFBs to be actively involved, particularly in the establishment of area-based management tools (ABMTs).
A second side event ‘Cooperation with Regional Fisheries Management Organisations: getting “BBNJ-ready”’ was co-organised by the Maldives, The Pew Charitable Trusts, the High Seas Alliance, Oceans North, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and the University of Wollongong (Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security) (Tuesday, 26 August 2025).
The side event gathered different RFMO secretariats, namely the IOTC and NAFO, as well as the FAO and presentations by representatives of state, NGO and academia. The panel included insights into IOTC’s progress on BBNJ coordination: current work, plans, and challenges, presented by Dr. Paul De Bruyn (IOTC), NAFO’s perspective on collaboration with the BBNJ Agreement, presented by Brynhildur Benediktsdóttir, the role RFMOs will play in implementing the BBNJ Agreement, and how the FAO will support and guide this process, presented by Alice McDonald and Initial recommendations and perspectives on BBNJ–RFMO cooperation from a civil society standpoint by Nichola Clark from the PEW charitable trusts. Dr. Hussain Sinan, ANCORS alumni and representative of the Maldives in BBNJ and IOTC negotiations presented on the Maldives proposal at the past IOTC meeting which enabled IOTC observer status in BBNJ meetings and constitutes an important pillar of interactions between BBNJ and RFMOs. “Maldives’ BBNJ-readiness proposal at IOTC: background and next steps”.
Dr. Ina Tessnow-von Wysocki, postdoctoral research fellow presented ANCORS work on a “BBNJ-RFMO engagement research”, led by Dr. Bianca Haas. Different ways of engagements between BBNJ and RFMOs were identified, including Membership overlap, geographic considerations, BBNJ discussions in the RFMO meetings and involvement with BBNJ and IFBs.
Towards entry into force
On September 19th, 2025, the threshold of 60 ratifications was reached for the Agreement to enter into force. As outlined in the agreement, entry into force happens 120 days after such threshold is met, which makes the 17th of January the official “birth date” of the BBNJ agreement. This significant milestone marks the beginning of implementation phase of the BBNJ Agreement. While this does not come unexpectedly, yet, it is speeding up the process of the intersessional period and the preparatory commission meetings. Quite some issues remain to be agreed upon, including the decision on the location of the seat of the Secretariat, who and how many members to serve on the various subsidiary bodies and how to operationalise the Clearinghouse Mechanism. With entry into force, the Agreement becomes legally binding to all States who have ratified – which also means, if research cruises under BBNJ Parties are planned in areas beyond national jurisdiction and marine genetic resources are collected, such information needs to be shared via this centralised platform which is still under development. This Intersessional Period and the upcoming Third PrepCom in March 2026 are vital to finalise the most urgent technicalities for the new instrument to run smoothly. Busy months ahead for the Secretariat and the co-chairs, as well as the member States to finalise preparations – but also for those countries who have yet to ratify the Agreement and to be able to participate as BBNJ Parties in the first Conference of the Parties meeting, which will be held no longer than one year after entry into force.