On 5 May 2023, CIL organized an in-person event on “Reflections on the New BBNJ Agreement: A Roundtable Discussion at the Orchard Hotel. The Roundtable Discussion brought together renowned negotiators, diplomats, and scholars to share their insights on the significance of the new BBNJ Agreement for the international community. The Roundtable was moderated by Ambassador Tommy Koh, who had been the President of the negotiations leading up to the adoption of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Other participants included Ambassador Rena Lee, President of the BBNJ negotiations, Mr. Lionel Yee, Deputy Attorney-General, Attorney-General’s Chambers and Head of the Singapore Delegation to the BBNJ negotiations, Professor Peter Ng, Professor at the Faculty of Science, NUS and part of the Singapore delegation, and Emeritus Professor Robert Beckman, Co-Head of the CIL Oceans Law and Policy Programme. The discussion covered a wide range of issues, including the negotiating process itself, the perspectives of national delegations in intergovernmental negotiations, the importance of science, the role of intellectual property rights, and the significance of the new treaty for existing ocean governance regimes, as well as possible impacts on relevant stakeholders, including states, non-governmental organizations, and industry.
Pre-Event Information
On 4 March 2023, after 36 hours of non-stop negotiations, states agreed on the text of a third implementing agreement under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to protect and conserve marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction as well as on a new regime for marine genetic resources. The new BBNJ Agreement is an historic achievement in international law, and while formal negotiations officially started in 2018, intergovernmental discussions about this subject began as early as 2004 when the UN General Assembly established an ad hoc expert working group to study the topic. Like UNCLOS, the negotiations leading up to the agreement on the text of the BBNJ have been long and complex, requiring the navigation of diverse and at times, divergent interests.
In this Roundtable Discussion, the Centre for International Law (CIL) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) brings together renowned negotiators, diplomats, and scholars to share their insights on the significance of the new BBNJ Agreement for the international community.
Moderated by Ambassador Tommy Koh, President of the 3rd UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, which produced the UNCLOS, the Roundtable will feature Ambassador Rena Lee (President of the BBNJ negotiations), Mr. Lionel Yee (Deputy Attorney-General, Attorney-General’s Chambers and Head of the Singapore Delegation to the BBNJ negotiations), Professor Peter Ng (Professor at the Faculty of Science, NUS and part of the Singapore delegation to the BBNJ Negotiations), and Emeritus Professor Robert Beckman (Head, CIL Oceans Law and Policy Programme). The discussion will cover a wide-range of issues including the negotiating process itself, the perspectives of national delegations in intergovernmental negotiations, the importance of science and the significance of the treaty for relevant stakeholders, including states, non-governmental organizations, and industry.
This was a by-invitation-only event