New contract win: Support for the High Seas Treaty

We are pleased to share that we have been awarded a new contract, titled Single Framework Contract for the provision of technical, legal, scientific and logistical support for the ratification and early implementation of the High Seas Treaty (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement).

Through this contract, which will run for four years, we will provide support to the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) for the implementation of the High Seas Treaty.

The high seas are the areas which don’t fall under any country’s sovereign territory or national jurisdiction. Currently, the laws regulating what can happen in the high seas aren’t robust, resulting in growing concern regarding issues such as unregulated deep-sea drilling in the Arctic Ocean. The High Seas Treaty (BBNJ) attempts to address this by getting countries to sign up and follow the agreement.

The objective of the Single Framework Contract for the provision of technical, legal, scientific and logistical support for the ratification and early implementation of the High Seas Treaty (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement) is to support the work of CINEA and the European Commission (in particular, the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE)) to:

• ensure a smooth and rapid ratification of the BBNJ Agreement
• prepare for the first phase of implementation of the BBNJ Agreement, through the Preparatory Committee and Conference of the Parties

More specifically, the contract also has the following objectives:

• to provide logistical support to organise political and technical events, such as workshops and political dialogues, including in support of the BBNJ High Ambition Coalition (HAC)
• to provide technical and scientific support to exchanges among stakeholders, parties and workshops and side events
• to provide legal and policy support in developing legislation and preparing for exchanges, meetings and negotiations
• to undertake studies, including possible impact assessment studies and pilot projects

Technical work and pilot projects carried out by Landell Mills will cover areas such as Area-Based Management Tools (ABMTs), Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), scientific practices related to Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and strategic environmental assessments.

Simon, Tamika and Harriet from Landell Mills attended the contract kick-off meeting at DG MARE in Brussels in mid-December; and were joined by Francis Staub from Blue Pangolin, one of our consortium members for this framework contract. We look forward to working with our consortium partners as well as CINEA and DG MARE in this contract’s implementation.