A Short Summary of the Process to Date
The decision by the UN General Assembly to initiate a process to develop a new legally binding
agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ is the result
of a long and protracted process that has spanned over a decade. The issue was first raised at the
fourth meeting of the UN Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of
the Sea (UNICPOLOS) in 2003 (at paras 13–23, 80, 98–104). Concerns about the lack of
effective legal and institutional mechanisms for governing ABNJ were echoed in other
international fora as well. In response, in resolution 59/24 of 2004, the General Assembly
established the Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation
and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction (BBNJ
Working Group) to clarify and examine these issues (at para 73).
By 2011, discussions under the auspices of the BBNJ Working Group began to focus on what
specific changes, if any, would be required to the law of the sea. The Working Group
recommended to the General Assembly that
… a process be initiated … with a view to ensuring that the legal framework for the
conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ effectively address those
issues by identifying gaps and ways forward, including through the implementation of
existing instruments and the possible development of a multilateral agreement under [the
LOSC]’ (A/66/119 Annex, at para I 1(a))