Who Are the “Relevant IFBs” for the Purposes of the BBNJ Agreement?

The full and effective implementation 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 (BBNJ Agreement) will depend to a significant extent on effective regime interaction with and among relevant legal instruments and frameworks and relevant global, regional, subregional and sectoral bodies (institutions, frameworks and bodies: IFBs). States have suggested different approaches to the identification of relevant IFBs, ranging from the development of a system for identifying and also prioritizing them, to self-identification by IFBs themselves. This article explores how the relevant IFBs, in addition to those mentioned in the BBNJ Agreement, could be identified and prioritized, taking into account relevant resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, recent actions taken by the governing bodies and Secretariats of several IFBs, as well as the views of delegations at BBNJ meetings. The article concludes that there is merit in both approaches, in self-identification by IFBs, as well as a system of prioritization for the early years after entry into force of the BBNJ Agreement which is based on the actions IFBs have taken to indicate their “relevance” and the identification of relevant IFBs by states. At the same time, it is critical to maintain a welcoming open-door policy for other IFBs to identify themselves as “relevant” for the Agreement, taking into account that some may require assistance to do so.