A new Ocean Agreement has entered into force to conserve and sustainably use the ocean globally. Given the imbalance of scientific, technical and financial capacity across countries to use the world’s ocean, conduct marine scientific research in the deep sea and engage in maritime activities in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the new agreement seeks to change the status quo. With a dedicated part on Capacity building and the Transfer of Marine Technology, the imbalance is supposed to be addressed, and global implementation of the agreement’s objectives be facilitated.

What falls under Capacity building in the context of the BBNJ Agreement?
What is meant by the transfer of marine technology?
How is this part crucial for the implementation of the new treaty?

We hear from different “Ocean Voices” from Fellows of the Ocean Voices Program of the University of Edinburgh and dive deep into their different research and ocean equity aspects in the framework of the BBNJ Agreement.

Guests:

Harriet Harden-Davies

Julia Schuetz-Veiga*

Renee Lewinilovo

Benit Mbiakolo

Beatriz Naranjo Elizondo

Maila Guilhon

Hosts: ⁠Ina Tessnow-von Wysocki⁠ & ⁠Jennifer Macey⁠

Sound design and editing: ⁠⁠Emily Perkins⁠⁠

Communication: ⁠Sunnefa Yeatman⁠

For comments & feedback please contact: ⁠inatvw@uow.edu.au⁠

Find out more:

ANCORS Ocean Equity page ⁠https://oceanequityresearch.org/⁠

ANCORS at the University of Wollongong ⁠https://www.uow.edu.au/ancors/⁠

Ocean Voices Program: https://ocean-voices.ed.ac.uk/

You can find capacity building initiatives and technical assistance for the BBNJ process on the United Nations Website: https://www.un.org/bbnjagreement/en/capacity-building-and-technical-assistance/overview

Read on Capacity Building and the Transfer of Marine Technology

Etuk Johnson, A., Harden-Davies, H. (2025). Capacity Building and Transfer of Marine Technology under the BBNJ Agreement: Key considerations for SIDS. Report for the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, University of Wollongong. https://oceanequityresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Arianne-Etuk_Capacity-Building-and-Transfer-of-Marine-Technology-under-the-BBNJ-Agreement.pdf

Harden-Davies, H., Lopes, V.F., Coelho, L.F. et al. First to finish, what comes next? Putting Capacity Building and the Transfer of Marine Technology under the BBNJ Agreement into practice. npj Ocean Sustain 3, 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44183-023-00039-1

Tessnow-von Wysocki, I., Bateh, F., Gobin, J., Harden-Davies, H., Kyeremeh, K., & Schutz-Veiga, J. (2024). Next steps to implement the BBNJ Agreement through capacity building and technology transfer. Maripoldata. https://www.maripoldata.eu/next-steps-to-implement-the-bbnj-agreement-through-capacity-building-andtechnology-transfer/

Johannes, R. E. (1981). Words of the lagoon: fishingand marine lore in the Palau district of Micronesia. Univ of California Press.

Know more & Research of the Ocean Voices Fellows

Costa Rica Desconocida: https://costaricadesconocida.com/

Guilhon, M, Xavier, LY, von Pogrell, L, Singh, P,Christiansen, S & Turra, A 2023, ‘Ecosystem-based Management through thelenses of International Seabed Authority stakeholders: current status,implications, and opportunities for the deep-sea mining regime in theArea’, Frontiers in Marine Science, vol. 10.

Naranjo-Elizondo, B & Cortés, J 2018, ‘Observations ofLitter Deposited in the Deep Waters of Isla del Coco National Park, EasternTropical Pacific’, Frontiers in Marine Science, vol. 5.

Harden-Davies, Harriet, and Júlia Schütz Veiga, 'PartV: Capacity-Building and the Transfer of Marine Technology', in Joanna Mossop, and David Freestone (eds), The Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Commentary and Analysis (2025; online edn, Oxford Law , https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198918578.003.0008,

Meet Renee Lewenilovo

Meet Benit Mbiakolo

* Julia Schuetz-Veiga is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Ocean Voices Program