ABSTRACT
After almost two decades of discussions and preparatory work in the framework of the United Nations, an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), convened for the purpose, but whose work over five sessions (from September 2018 to June 2023) had additionally been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, elaborated and, in June 2023, finally adopted the Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement). In the resolution laying out the mandate of the IGC, the UN General Assembly had, inter alia, reminded that the future BBNJ Agreement had to be “fully consistent” with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Thus, the chapter focuses on assessing the status of the BBNJ Agreement as a treaty implementing the UNCLOS. In respect thereto, parallels and differences to other treaties implementing the UNCLOS, notably the 1995 Fish Stocks Agreement, are considered. Further highlighted are the position of states non-parties to the UNCLOS and the provisions on dispute settlement.
