First Session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom 1) on Marine Biodiversity beyond Areas of National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)

The first session of the PrepCom was held from 28 March to 8 April 2016 in New York), under the mandate from UN General Assembly Resolution 69/292 which decided to develop an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of BBNJ. To this end, the Assembly established a Preparatory Committee (PrepCom), to make substantive recommendations to the Assembly on the elements of a draft text of an ILBI, and for the Assembly to decide, before the end of its seventy-second session, whether to convene an intergovernmental conference (IGC) to elaborate the text of the agreement. The resolution also indicated that negotiations will address topics identified in the 2011 "package."

Chaired by Eden Charles from Trinidad and Tobago, delegations outlined detailed positions on the various elements related to the 2011 "package." Delegates agreed to a procedural roadmap outlining the structure of PrepCom 2, and on having a Chair's summary of the meeting and an indicative list of issues circulated during the intersessional period.

For more details and analysis, please refer to UN webpage and ENB report.