Preamble and General Provisions

What is a Preamble?

A Preamble is where you find the overall aspirations of and vision for a treaty.

In the BBNJ Treaty, the Preamble provisions cover the following topics:

• Obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment
• Respecting the balance of rights, obligations and interests set out in UNCLOS
• Climate change impacts
• Conservation and sustainable use of ABNJ
• Contributing to the realization of a just and equitable international economic order 
• Capacity building, development, and transfer of marine technology
• UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities
• Transbounary impacts on the marine environment
• Desire to act as stewards of the ocean
• Digital sequence information
• Sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independsnce of all States
• Non-parties to UNCLOS
• Liability in accordance with international law on international obligations concerning the protection and preservation of the marine environment
• Commitment to achieving sustainable development
• Aspiration to achieve universal participation

What are general provisions? What are the BBNJ Treaty's genereal provisions?

General provisions in a treaty provide the foundation that apply to all of the substantive provisions of a treaty, unless specifically stated otherwise. 

In the BBNJ Treaty, the general provisions cover the following topics:

• Use of terms
• General objective
• Scope of application
• Exceptions
• Relationship between the BBNJ Treaty and UNCLOS and relevant legal instruments and frameworks and relevant global, regional, subregional and sectoral bodies
• Without prejudice
• General principles and approaches
• Internaitonal cooperation

Ref. BBNJ Treaty, Art. 1 through 8 (Part I)

Why does the BBNJ Treaty have specific objectives for each substantive element?

One of the general provisions is on the general objective of the BBNJ Treaty: to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, for the present and in the long term, through effective implementation of the relevant provisions of the UNCLOS and to further international cooperation and coordination.

The genereal objective applies to the entire BBNJ Treaty. In addition, the Treaty has substantive elements with specific objectives that are unique to each substantive element (see below), but may not be relevant for other substantive elements. The element-specific objectives complement the general objective in Art. 2 of the BBNJ Treaty while clarifying the objectives of each substantive element. The element-specific objectives can be found in the following:

• Area-based management tools, including marine protected areas: BBNJ Treaty, Art. 17
• Environmental impact assessments: BBNJ Treaty, Art. 27
• Marine genetic resources, including the fair and equitable sharing of benefits: BBNJ Treaty, Art. 9
• Capacity building and the transfer of marine technology: BBNJ Treaty, Art. 40

Ref. BBNJ Treaty, Art. 2