Decoding Marine Genetic Resource Governance Under the BBNJ Agreement

This collaborative book provides practical guidance and tools to scientists, commercial end-users and policymakers to better understand aspects of the new BBNJ Treaty, which is set to fundamentally change the way biodiversity is governed in two-thirds of the ocean.

The Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), is also known as the High Seas Treaty or Ocean Biodiversity Treaty. Adopted on 19 June 2023, the Treaty protects the deep sea through conservation measures like marine protected areas (MPAs) and promotes equity through rules about sharing the benefits from research on marine genetic resources (MGR) of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). MGR are the building blocks of biodiversity and unlocking their secrets is crucial for the health of the planet and its people.

The Treaty is a blueprint with new rules for two-thirds of the world’s oceans, but there are many practical details to be fleshed out by Treaty bodies when it enters into force. There is a lack of comprehensive guidance for stakeholders about what the Treaty might mean for their current and future research and development (R&D) and for commercialisation of MGR in ABNJ. The authors offer a unique interpretation of Treaty provisions, not only from a scientific perspective but also from policy and legal perspectives using relatable real-world examples and case studies in a range of cultural contexts. An insightful retrospective summary of the negotiation history is followed by a forward focus on how the Treaty might work in practice, particularly for challenging aspects of implementation, such as intellectual property and interlinkages with other access and benefit-sharing (ABS) frameworks.

With authors from the EU-funded projects MARBLES and BlueRemediomics, the book is a major output of the two projects, both of which have significant elements engaging with policy developments for ABS. The two projects help to shape new approaches to the governance of MGRs, especially when it comes to supporting a science-based approach to ABS compliance in biodiversity-rich countries.