After the Dust Settles: Selected Considerations about the New Treaty on Marine Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction with Respect to ABMTs and MPAs

Abstract

The recent adoption of a new agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction has been welcomed as a historic achievement that will herald a new era of marine conservation and global ocean governance. This article aims to raise and discuss some questions, as the dust settles, and to analyze selected aspects of the text of the new Agreement, with particular respect to Part III of the BBNJ agreement, dedicated to area-based management tools (ABMTs), including marine protected areas (MPAs), which are arguably crucial for the operationalization of the Agreement but remain ambiguous or underarticulated, and may thus reduce its effectiveness and ambition. These questions concern the relationship with other relevant instruments, frameworks, and bodies (IFBs); relatedly, the issue of recognition of area-based measures adopted under other IFBs; and the so-called opt-out question, that is, the right to make objections to an ABMT and/or MPA adopted under the BBNJ agreement.