The BBNJ Agreement: Reflections on Its Recent Signature and Impact for Peru

Abstract

This article aims to provide some reflections on the importance of the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), adopted in 2023, and its legal, geopolitical, and strategic implications, with a special emphasis on Peru. It highlights that the BBNJ complements the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by filling regulatory gaps in the governance of the high seas and promoting a framework based on equity, transparency, and international cooperation. It is also argued that the treaty does not duplicate functions but rather provides a complementary institutional architecture. Based on a qualitative approach and a literature review of secondary sources, the article explores the geostrategic implications of the BBNJ Agreement, especially for countries of the Global South, and underscores Peru’s proactive role in the negotiation of the treaty and in defending its oceanic interests. Finally, it contends that Peru’s ratification of the BBNJ would be a decisive step to consolidate its environmental foreign policy and to project an active ocean diplomacy consistent with the challenges of the twenty-first century.