Report of the second workshop for tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) on the Ecosystems Approach too Fisheries Management (EAFM) organized in September 2019.

The marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) comprises 40 percent of the earth’s surface, it covers 64 percent of the surface of the ocean and 95 percent of its volume. The Common Oceans ABNJ Program (2014-2019) was implemented by FAO as a concerted effort to bring various stakeholders to work together to manage and conserve the world’s common oceans.   The project “Strengthening global capacity to effectively manage ABNJ”, one component of the Common Oceans ABNJ Program, addressed cross-sectoral coordination and dialogue among the separate ongoing processes - a key gap that limited effective ecosystem-based management of ABNJ. The project supported participation and knowledge sharing amongst decision makers in cross-sectoral governance of ABNJ. Limitations to the project design, budget and accountability should be addressed to foster corrective action for phase two of the ABNJ Program.

Summary of the High-Level Dialogue and Global Media Forum taking place on the occasion of the inauguration of the world's first-ever large high seas aquarium and exhibit: Nausicáa, the French National Sea Center in Boulogne-sure-mer, France, from 26-28 June 2018. 

This side event took place at the second intergovernmental conference on BBNJ, co-organized by the International Coastal and Ocean Organization (Secretariat of the Global Ocean Forum), the Permanent Mission of Monaco to the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, ATLAS, and the Ocean Policy Research Institute of Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Japan. 

This is a multi-author, multi-institutional effort, led by the GEF/FAO/GOF Capacity Development Project and its Communities of Practice, involving a set of 39 Authors, contributing in their personal capacities. The Policy Brief addresses the challenges of capacity building, relevant international prescriptions on capacity development, discussions on capacity in the BBNJ process so far, existing efforts in capacity building relevant to BBNJ, financing capacity building for BBNJ, a possible clearing-house mechanism, and possible modalities for linking capacity efforts at global, regional, and national levels. The paper is intended to contribute directly to the discussions at the Intergovernmental Conference on development of an international legally binding instrument under UNCLOS on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ).