Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction
OSPAR had the honour to participate in the third meeting of the Preparatory Commission the Entry into Force of 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 and the Convening of the First Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Agreement, held from 23 March to 2 April 2026.
During a session on the 25th March promoted by the Honourable Co-Chairs with the relevant legal instruments and frameworks and relevant global, regional, subregional and sectoral bodies, OSPAR offered a statement on OSPAR’s work milestones and priorities.
The OSPAR work and commitment, reaffirmed at the 2025 OSPAR Ministerial Meeting, to effectively manage and protect its Marine Protected Areas in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction through cross-sectoral collaboration aligns with the implementation of area-based management tools under Part III of the BBNJ Agreement, ensuring that conservation actions are complementary and coherent across regional and global scales.
The milestone expansion of the OSPAR Maritime Area to cover the Macaronesia islands and adjacent areas beyond national jurisdiction, recently agreed, echoes its growing pledge in support of global biodiversity goals under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the BBNJ Agreement.
OSPAR’s science-policy interface provides a sound knowledge base to guide and inform global decision-making through marine protection objectives grounded in robust evidence reviewed through regular health checks of the North-East Atlantic, such as the next OSPAR Intermediate Assessment 2029.
Through its Data and Information Management System and its Assessment Portal, OSPAR also stands ready to respond to data-driven collaboration needs, through interoperable sharing of environmental data in respect of the North-East Atlantic, in the context of BBNJ Agreement and its subsidiary bodies.
