IUCN Area Based Management Tools - Summary Report

A 3-day expert workshop, hosted at the IUCN Headquarters in January 2026 with the support of the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB, Office Français de la Biodiversité), focused on how this cooperation and coordination could be strengthened in the context of Part III of the Agreement on area-based management tools (ABMTs). The workshop put a spotlight on a series of practical examples of existing cooperation mechanisms amongst IFBs and consultation efforts within IFBs as part of ongoing biodiversity conservation initiatives.

Workshop participants held fruitful exchanges during the plenary group discussions and breakout group sessions to explore avenues for cooperation between the BBNJ Agreement and IFBs, including potential opportunities and limitations. An attempt of capturing the key considerations to inform how cooperation with and among IFBs could be set up and reinforced is presented in this document.