Highlights and images for 25 April 2025

The Preparatory Commission (PrepCom) for the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) concluded its first session, with the Co-Chairs and delegates lauding the constructive engagement on a range of issues. 

Summing up discussions, Co-Chair Janine Coye-Felson (Belize) and Adam McCarthy (Australia) highlighted, among others:

• a number of decisions depend on the institutional arrangements chosen for the secretariat;
• convergence on the need for the secretariat to leverage support across the UN, regardless of the secretariat model that is chosen;
• convergence on granting the secretariat international legal capacity and extending privileges and immunities to state representatives to facilitate meeting participation; 
• convergence on many elements related to the rules of procedure of the Conference of the Parties, and for these to also apply to the subsidiary bodies, with adjustments as needed to align with the bodies’ specific mandate; and 
• convergence on how to advance the operationalization of the Clearing-House Mechanism.
   

They also drew attention to discussions on:

• the importance of enhancing cooperation with and promoting cooperation among other instruments, frameworks, and bodies in a way that does not undermine them and promotes coherence, mutual supportiveness, and non-duplication; 
• the need for balance between meaningful reporting and the administrative burden related to reporting, particularly for developing countries; 
• the importance of capacity building and finance to support to developing country reporting;
• the importance of commencing work on the institutional arrangements and allocation modalities of the Special Fund, as well as its capitalization;
• support for using the UN scale assessment as a basis for determining parties’ contributions, with possible adjustments to the range and cycle of contributions;
• support for seeking the feedback from the Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) on the draft memorandum of understanding ahead of PrepCom III; and
• support for the PrepCom to provide preliminary guidance to inform the GEF’s ninth replenishment.
   

In terms of intersessional work, the Co-Chairs noted:

• the Co-Chairs will revise their three aids to negotiations, taking into account discussions held at PrepCom I and any additional input delegations may provide in writing until 2 May 2025;
• the Co-Chairs will produce a matrix outlining proposed rules of procedure and modalities for each subsidiary body;
• the UN Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (UNDOALOS), as the interim secretariat, will prepare a comparison of secretariat arrangements in other multilateral environmental agreements;
• the Co-Chairs will prepare draft terms of reference for a group to seek expert input on the Clearing-House Mechanism, to be considered intersessionally and adopted at PrepCom II; and
• UNDOALOS will prepare a flowchart of the functions of the CHM and possible linkages to institutions established under the Agreement.

Delegates expressed appreciation to the Co-Chairs and UNDOALOS for their guidance and leadership during the session. The EU and the High Seas Alliance expressed hope that the Agreement could reach 60 ratifications in time for the UN Ocean Conference in June 2025.