Following the landmark milestone of the High Seas Treaty (BBNJ Agreement) reaching over 100 parties, global momentum toward protecting international waters has never been higher.
Following the Treaty’s entry into force, the international community is making the critical shift from drafting legal text to building its foundations and institutional set up to driving on-the-water implementation. As States prepare for the first Conference of the Parties (BBNJ COP1) in January 2027, the High Seas Alliance’s Let’s Talk BBNJ webinar series hosted a deep dive into one of the Treaty’s most transformational, yet frequently misunderstood components: Part II on Marine Genetic Resources (MGRs) and Digital Sequence Information (DSI).
The session was opened by High Seas Alliance Director Rebecca Hubbard, who set the stage by reiterating the Treaty’s core structure. The session was moderated by HSA’s cross-cutting coordinator Daniel Kachelriess, who guided the discussion through legal frameworks, national test cases, open science, and equity.
Insights from the panel
Matthew Carvalho (Georgetown University / Earth Commons)
Matthew Carvalho opened the presentations with a comprehensive breakdown of the legal structure of Part II of the Agreement. He detailed the four core objectives of Part II: fair and equitable benefit-sharing, scientific capacity building, knowledge generation, and marine technology transfer. Matthew walked attendees through the standard Article 12 workflow, from pre-collection notifications (required six months prior to sampling) to post-collection reports (within one year) and public repository deposits (within three years).
Sarah Enright (Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, Ireland)
Sarah Enright provided a practical, real-world perspective by sharing Ireland’s experience in submitting the world’s first Article 12 pre-collection notification in July. The notification involved a UK research institute chartering an Irish-flagged vessel to conduct High Seas research. Because standard templates and the Clearing-House Mechanism (Cl-HM) are still under development, Sarah explained how Ireland worked directly with the interim secretariat (UN DOALOS) to draft a compliant submission and assign an interim reference number.
Andre Abreu (Tara Ocean Foundation)
Andre Abreu demystified the science behind MGRs, pointing out that bioprospecting on the High Seas rarely focuses on large fauna. Instead, it centers on the ocean microbiome: plankton, bacteria, and viruses that make up 80-90% of marine life. Drawing from 20 years of Tara Ocean expeditions, Andre explained the pipeline of converting physical seawater samples into open-access DSI stored in international gene banks.
Sheena Talma (Marine Biologist, Seychelles)
Sheena Talma brought the focus firmly back to ocean equity, illustrating the historical imbalance in marine scientific research where most High Seas expeditions and natural product discoveries have been dominated by wealthy nations. Sheena argued that implementing Part II requires moving away from “parachute science” toward genuine co-production and shared cruise leadership and highlighted opportunities for the Treaty’s CBTMT provisions to contribute to that shift.
Bridging conservation and equity
The primary lesson from this session is that the four pillars of the High Seas Treaty: Area-Based Management Tools, Environmental Impact Assessments, MGRs, and Capacity Building are inherently linked and must be implemented with equal ambition. Conservation objectives cannot be met without guaranteeing equity.
As State parties head toward BBNJ COP1, several key operational priorities remain on the horizon: The priority for CoP1 will be finalizing the institutional set-up of the Agreement and its subsidiary bodies. From the perspective of Part II this includes the Access and Benefit-Sharing Committee, which plays an important role in monitoring implementation of Part II and developing guidance, and the Clearing-House Mechanism, which will serve as the central information exchange platform for the Agreement, including for Part II.
If you’re interested in any of the topics above, watch the full recording of this Let’s Talk BBNJ webinar: