GOBI is delighted to be part of a new initiative to advance conservation in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The Living High Seas Partnership – a 5-year project funded through Germany’s International Climate Initiative – is a pioneering and ambitious initiative that brings together key actors to support the co-development of the first generation of area-based management tools (ABMTs), including marine protected areas (MPAs), under the BBNJ Agreement. Led by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH working hand in hand with GOBI and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Living High Seas aims to translate the BBNJ Agreement into practical area-based management realities.
At the core of Living High Seas is a diverse group of countries – Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Indonesia, Micronesia, and Senegal – who share a strong scientific, socio-economic and political interest in pioneering implementation of the BBNJ Agreement for specific areas of the ocean, together with other countries and stakeholders in their regions and beyond. The project will support these forerunners in the co-development and submission of ABMT/MPA proposals for sites of high biodiversity value in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic ocean basins, and in doing so will help develop capacities, strengthen governance, and further knowledge transfer.
The Living High Seas approach builds on the portfolio of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) in the high seas, focusing on five existing EBSAs as initial scoping areas for sites that may meet the BBNJ ABMT criteria. GOBI coordinates the work to develop the scientific evidence base from which ABMT/MPA proposals are derived, GIZ leads work on strengthening capacities of partner countries and relevant actors for the collaborative development, management and governance of high seas ABMTs/MPAs, and IUCN facilitates policy uptake processes on high seas ABMT/MPAs through exchange of knowledge and experience generated by the project.
Living High Seas started in January 2026 for a period of 5 years. Find out more about the project and its goals at www.livinghighseas.org
