UN Negotiations: Ocean Biodiversity

Vicky Ford Excerpts

Friday 25th February 2022 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Vicky Ford)]

My noble Friend the Minister for the Pacific and the International Environment (Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park) has made the following written ministerial statement:

The fourth intergovernmental conference to negotiate an international legally binding instrument under the UN convention on the law of the sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction—known in short as the BBNJ agreement—takes place at the UN in New York from 7 to 18 March 2022.

The BBNJ agreement will be an important step forward in ocean governance, building on existing obligations in UNCLOS to protect the marine environment. Formal negotiations on a draft agreement have been underway since 2018. This conference, originally scheduled for March 2020, had to be postponed due to covid restrictions. It will be a key moment for delegations to regroup in person to make progress. This will be challenging in the time available. In a lengthy draft text of more than 70 articles, with many square bracketed options, plus more than 400 pages of alternative text proposals from delegations, there are still a number of key points of divergence in positions.

The mandate for negotiations is set out in UN General Assembly Resolution 72/249 of 24 December 2017. The resolution mandates the negotiations to address the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. The elements of the package to be negotiated are: marine genetic resources, including questions on the sharing of benefits; area-based management tools, including marine protected areas (MPA); environmental impact assessments and capacity-building; and the transfer of marine technology. The resolution also reaffirms that the work of the conference and the agreement should be fully consistent with the provisions of UNCLOS and should not undermine the work of the existing ocean governance bodies. The conference is the final round of negotiations envisaged in the resolution.

The UK is keen to see an ambitious agreement concluded in 2022. Of particular importance are provisions that would enable the establishment of MPAs in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

This is important to help to achieve the target to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030, championed by the UK-led Global Ocean Alliance ahead of the upcoming 15th conference of parties to the convention on biological diversity. We also recognise the need to give better effect to UNCLOS commitments on capacity building for, and technology transfer to, developing countries. We understand the need to share the benefits of research into marine genetic resources and are keen to see greater international collaboration and the open sharing of scientific knowledge. The agreement must respect the freedom in UNCLOS for all states to conduct marine scientific research on the high seas, and should not create barriers to such research.

Negotiations will take place at senior official level and the UK delegation is led by the FCDO, working closely with DEFRA, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the National Oceanography Centre, the Department for Transport, the Ministry of Defence and the Natural History Museum. In the last two years of informal intersessional work, the UK has participated in online dialogues organised by the IGC President, Ambassador Rena Lee of Singapore, and in high seas dialogues organised by Belgium, Costa Rica, Monaco and the High Seas Alliance, and has also co-hosted a number of other workshops to build understanding.

The Prime Minister announced the UK’s membership of the High Ambition Coalition on BBNJ at the One Ocean summit organised by France on 11 February. We hope that the coalition will give political impetus to the negotiations and will press coalition members to deliver on their commitments.

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