Joanna Mossop is a professor at the Victoria University of Wellington School of Law and an expert in the international law of the sea. She has published widely on a range of issues including maritime security, dispute settlement, and the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. In 2019 the New Zealand government nominated her to the list of arbitrators and conciliators under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. She is a member of boards of several international journals and the co-editor of the Brill monograph series Publications on Ocean Development.David Freestone is a visiting scholar and former visiting professor at George Washington University Law School. He is Executive Secretary of the Sargasso Sea Commission established by the 2014 Hamilton Declaration on Collaboration for the Conservation of the Sargasso Sea. He is the founding editor of the International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law (now in its 40th year). From 1996-2008 he worked at the World Bank in Washington DC, first as head of the international law group, and from 2004-2008 as Deputy General Counsel/Senior Adviser. In 2007 he was awarded the Elizabeth Haub Gold Medal for Environmental Law.

• PART I Background 1: Joanna Mossop and David Freestone: Introduction 2: Joanna Mossop and David Freestone: Governance Challenges for the High Seas 3: Nilüfer Oral: History of the BBNJ Agreement PART II Commentary 4: Vito De Lucia and Kristine Elfrida Dalaker: Preamble and Part I: General Provisions 5: Konrad Jan Marciniak, Arianna Broggiato, and Judith Gobin: Part II: Marine Genetic Resources 6: Nichola Clark, Kristina Gjerde and Mariamalia Rodriguez Chaves: Part III: Area-Based Management Tools including Marine Protected Areas 7: Kahlil Hassanali and Cymie R Payne: Part IV: Environmental Impact Assessments 8: Harriet Harden-Davies and Júlia Schütz Veiga: Part V: Capacity-Building and the Transfer of Marine Technology 9: Kentaro Nishimoto and Le Duy Tran: Part VI: Institutional Arrangements and Part VII: Financial Resources and Mechanism 10: Joanna Mossop and Yubing Shi: Parts VIII to XII: Implementation and Compliance, Dispute Settlement, and Final Provisions PART III Perspectives 11: Qasim Aziz and Fuad Bateh: Empowering the Global South: The Role of the G-77 in Striving for an Equitable BBNJ Treaty 12: Rose Lesley Kautoke, Clement Yow Mulalap, and Vui Gemma Nelson: The Agreement and Small Island Developing States 13: Alex David Rogers: A Scientific Perspective on the BBNJ Agreement 14: Achinthi C Vithanage: The Agreement and International Environmental Law 15: Abbe Brown and Marcel Jaspars: The Agreement and Intellectual Property Law 16: David Freestone and Joanna Mossop: Conclusion

Mossop and Freestone provide a rigorous, authoritative, and accessible resource that equips legal professionals to navigate the doctrinal, procedural, and policy challenges posed by this transformative treaty, making it essential reading for anyone engaged in international maritime law and marine environmental governance.