Protecting the Ocean in the Contemporary International Order: Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer from the Stockholm Declaration to the BBNJ Agreement

Abstract This article traces the concepts of capacity-building and technology transfer from the Stockholm Declaration and London Convention of 1972, through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its three implementing agreements of 1994, 1995, and 2023. These instruments suggest a story of changing ideas about how capacity-building and technology transfer should relate to protecting and using our ocean. With a view to informing contemporary efforts to use law to protect and use our ocean sustainably, the article concludes with a review of the capacity-building and technology transfer provisions of the 2023 Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement to highlight how law has been used to leverage funding for these activities, and how they could again be viewed as part of an agenda for global economic equality.