Main Issue
Marine Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ), commonly called the high seas, are those areas of ocean for which no one nation has sole responsibility for management. In all, these make up 40 percent of the surface of our planet, comprising 64 percent of the surface of the oceans and nearly 95 percent of its volume.
Urgent action is needed to improve management of many ABNJ fisheries and other biodiversity and strengthen protection of marine ecosystems. In this way, we can prevent devastating impacts on the ocean, socio-economic well-being, and food security for millions of people directly dependent on those fisheries.
Often considered the world’s last standing “global commons,” the complex ecosystems in the ABNJ include the water column and seabed of the high seas. They are mostly far from coasts, making the sustainable management of the fisheries resources and biodiversity conservation in those areas extremely challenging. ABNJ ecosystems are subject to negative impacts from human activities in many sectors — from shipping to marine pollution to deep sea fishing and mining — all compounded by a complex web of legal instruments and ocean governance.
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 (BBNJ Agreement), adopted on June 19, 2023, is the latest such ocean governance mechanism. The main objective of the BBNJ Agreement is the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction for the present and in the long-term, through effective implementation of the relevant provisions and further international cooperation and coordination.
What We Do
As of June 2023, the GEF serves as part of the financial mechanism for the BBNJ Agreement, which also includes a special fund and a voluntary trust fund. Until the BBNJ Agreement has enough parties to enter into force, GEF support to the BBNJ Agreement is focused on providing assistance for ratification and implementation readiness.
The GEF has been investing in ABNJ since its fifth replenishment (GEF-5, 2010-2014). In total, more than $80 million has been invested into sound management. One key focus has been on promoting sustainable fisheries, including tuna fisheries. For example, in 2004, GEF support led directly to the establishment of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. The Commission has responsibility for the conservation, management, and sustainable use of tuna resources across a area that covers approximately 100 million km2 — or 20 percent of the Earth’s surface. The GEF project supported the Pacific island nations as they negotiated a new, ecosystem-based convention — a 10-year process. One of the goals of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean is to ensure that all Pacific countries benefit from the sustainable management of a regional resource worth over $4 billion a year. Apart from helping Pacific countries optimize economic returns from its rich tuna stocks, the project has put in place conservation and management measures to mitigate overfishing bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks. Through the GEF-5 and GEF-7 ABNJ programs, the GEF has supported all five tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) and their member states to promote more sustainable fishing practices. These two programs also invested in deep-sea fisheries, protection of seamounts, and facilitated an active global ocean community.