The high seas treaty (BBNJ agreement) and planetary sustainability: why we should manage the entirety of ABNJ as a de facto multi-use marine protected area

The High Seas Treaty (BBNJ Agreement) provides a new legal framework to protect ocean ecosystems increasingly threatened as economic activities expand across Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ). These global commons include the water column of the High Seas and the seabed with associated mineral resources. Implementation, however, will be challenged by deference to existing entities, by the ambiguities and failures of wider ocean governance, and by impacts due to global environmental change and activities in national waters and on land. Meaningful delivery will therefore depend on overcoming broader ocean governance issues that threaten to stymie action and integrating wider sustainability considerations that impact (and are impacted by) what happens in ABNJ. It is proposed that we could do this by treating ABNJ in their entirety as a de facto multi-use Marine Protected Area within a planetary sustainability paradigm. Global framing supports prioritizing conservation and sustainable use in ABNJ by contextualizing their importance and how necessary activities, including extraction, might be best managed in national waters or on land. In practice, any activities or infrastructure in ABNJ would need to support (or not impact) conservation and sustainable use outcomes balanced across ABNJ and the planet. Implementation would need institutional advocacy through the BBNJ Agreement Conference of Parties (COP) and other bodies. Adoption could be advanced legally and institutionally through both the BBNJ Agreement COP and as part of the upcoming post-2030 sustainable development agenda, with implementation led by the BBNJ Agreement COP or Secretariat in coordination with other instruments, frameworks, and bodies.