1. 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, UNGAOR, Further resumed 5th Sess, UN Doc A/CONF.232/2023/4 (19 June 2023) (BBNJ agreement), Article 2. The agreement is not in force yet. In accordance with article 68(1), the agreement will enter into force 120 days after the date of deposit of the 60th instrument of ratification, approval, acceptance or accession. As of March 2024, there are only 88 signatories and 2 ratifications (i.e., parties). See the UN Treaty Collection (UNTC) website, available at https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXI-10&chapter=21&clang=_en. See also definition of ‘biodiversity’ in the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, 1760 UNTS 79 (CBD), Article 2.
2. BBNJ agreement, supra note 1, Article 1(2).
3. Towards an ecosystem approach to management in areas beyond national jurisdiction: REMPs for deep seabed mining and the proposed BBNJ instrument;See also Sabine Christiansen, Carole Durussel, Maila Guilhon, Pradeep Singh, and Sebastian Unger;Front. Mar. Sci.,2022
4. 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1833 UNTS 397 (UNCLOS), Articles 133, 145, 151, 153.
5. See also in Giovanni Ardito, Gemma Andreone, and Marzia Rovere, Overlapping and fragmentation in the protection and conservation of the marine environment in areas beyond national jurisdiction, Frontiers in Marine Science 1, 4 (2023).