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Considerations concerning state ratification of the BBNJ Agreement

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Global

Publication date: February 4, 2025

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The BBNJ Agreement marks a major advance in ocean governance, yet its marine genetic resources (MGR) provisions present significant legal and policy uncertainties for states. This review examines procedural steps before and after ratification, drawing lessons from earlier UNCLOS implementing agreements and other treaties. While three pillars of the BBNJ Agreement rest on established law, the MGR framework remains underdeveloped, leaving many obligations unclear. As a result, most states are expected to ratify first—signaling commitment—while gradually building the legislation and policies needed for full compliance. The analysis highlights the importance of phased implementation, legal preparedness and adaptive governance as countries move toward operationalizing the Agreement.

Subject Tags

  • Policy

Abstract

This paper presents procedural, policy, and legal considerations that states may encounter before and after ratifying the BBNJ Agreement, with a focus on its marine genetic resources (MGR) provisions. It briefly examines the behaviours of parties to the other two previously ratified implementing agreements to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as some ratification lessons learnt from other relevant treaties. The other three “pillars” of the BBNJ Agreement sit on well-established foundations of national and international law. However, as discussed here, the legal foundation of the fourth pillar, MGR, is less well established nationally or internationally, and much remains to be determined. Therein, the BBNJ Agreement represents a significant advancement of international law. However, the reality is that most parties will not adopt all the necessary new legislation prior to their ratification, nor can they, because many of the MGR provisions are as yet still unclear. States are therefore likely to choose a progressive approach, ratifying the Agreement to signal commitment while gradually developing the legal framework necessary for full compliance, as well as policies to guide its implementation.

Citation

Ardron, J. A., Kachelriess, D., Lyal, C. H., Nwapi, C., Rabone, M., Sirakaya, A., & Swaddling, A. (2025). Considerations concerning state ratification of the BBNJ Agreement. In Decoding Marine Genetic Resource Governance Under the BBNJ Agreement (pp. 225-239). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-72100-7_10

TNC Authors