The ship has reached the shore: The final session of the ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ negotiations

Abstract

The negotiations for a new legal instrument for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) concluded in March 2023 with a successful, and somewhat surprising, finalization of a treaty. The BBNJ treaty is a remarkable achievement. But these outcomes – the circumstances of finalization and the content of the final agreement – are complicated to explain. They are the result of the complex interactions between different avenues of influence and constraint, a broad and multifaceted set of interested parties, and the shifting modalities and pressures that characterized the negotiations. This paper is the sixth in a series of analyses that help explain the outcomes of the BBNJ process by tracing the patterns and trends that shaped negotiations at each inter-governmental conference (IGC). We use a combination of process tracing, narrative coding, and ethnographic methods in order to construct a thick description of the negotiations that sheds light on the drivers and shapers of the process. In this analysis, we focus on the role of diplomatic practices in a pressurized environment, and the assignment of particular functions and decisions to as-yet-unconstituted BBNJ bodies, such as the Conference of Parties. The paper concludes by considering the future implementation of the BBNJ agreement, and associated research agendas.