Enhancing capacities for high seas conservation
EU-funded Programme (2025-2030) to support involvement of countries in key global ABNJ biodiversity-related processes.
The marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) covers nearly half of the planet’s surface and holds some of the most biodiverse, yet least protected, ecosystems on Earth. With the adoption of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), the global community has taken a historic step toward safeguarding marine life in the high seas.
The Global Ocean Programme (GOP) is a €40 million EU-funded initiative under the NDICI–Global Europe thematic programme ‘Global Challenges’ (Planet) for 2024–2027 of the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA).
It aims at enhancing DG INTPA partner countries capacities to implement and benefit from the newly adopted High Seas Biodiversity Treaty (BBNJ Agreement) and other agreements and processes - legal, institutional, and scientific - related to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ).
IUCN is implementing Component 1 of GOP (GOP C1), which focuses on enhancing capacities at national and regional levels to respond to key global ABNJ biodiversity-related processes.
The overarching objective of the GOP C1 over the period [2025-2030] is to contribute to the effective delivery of global ocean commitments by 2030, while leaving in place an improved, inclusive and operational governance architecture to continue implementation post-2030. The programme focuses on three interdependent areas of intervention:
- Enhancing institutional capacity for ABNJ governance
- Strengthening technical capacity through closing geographic and taxonomic gaps in ABNJ mapping
- Reinforcing regional ocean governance and coordination mechanisms
To meet the scale of this challenge, IUCN has notably launched a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF), a dedicated mechanism that offers responsive, context-specific expertise to support countries in enhancing their capacity for high seas biodiversity governance.
About the Technical Assistance Facility
The GOP Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) offers on-demand, targeted support to help countries and regional intergovernmental organisations strengthen their legal, institutional, and scientific capacities to engage in the BBNJ Agreement and other high seas biodiversity-related processes.
The TAF does not offer grants or financial transfers. It mobilizes high-level expertise through a coordinated, needs-based approach, helping eligible partners build the foundations necessary to ratify, domesticate and operationalize international ABNJ biodiversity commitments.
For more information, please consult the Technical Assistance Guidelines for Applicants or contact: [email protected].
Eligible countries and regional intergovernmental organizations interested in requesting support can submit technical assistance requests online at any time. Each request is assessed on a rolling basis to ensure responsiveness to national priorities and regional contexts.
Enhance capacities to respond to key global ABNJ biodiversity-related processes
IUCN Technical Assistance Facility - European Commission Global Ocean Programme (GOP)