The High Seas Alliance (HSA), a network of nearly 80 international organizations and the IUCN, has been actively engaged in negotiations for the Agreement to conserve biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) since 2011. As the Agreement enters into force, the HSA and its members are preparing for implementation, including supporting the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) on the high seas.
A key challenge is translating Article 19 of the BBNJ Agreement, which sets out the requirements for MPA proposals, into actionable guidance. To bridge this gap, HSA has developed a proposal development guide that unpacks Article 19's legal categories into practical, science-informed elements, designed for the full spectrum of actors involved: policymakers, negotiators, scientists, and MPA practitioners.
Critically, the guide goes beyond proposal development to incorporate practical elements for management planning, drawing on real-world MPA implementation experience. This ensures that knowledge accumulated from decades of MPA practice is embedded into the high seas governance framework from the outset.
This presentation will discuss how the guide was developed, what it contains, and how the marine science community can contribute to strengthening it. It is a case study in knowledge brokering across legal, policy, scientific, and management domains.