Second CARICOM Member State ratifies BBNJ Agreement

Barbados joins Belize as the second CARICOM Member State to ratify 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 Agreement was adopted during the 79th United Nations General Assembly. During this period, Jamaica also signed the Treaty joining Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Dominica, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The agreement, an international legally binding treaty, was agreed upon in March 2023, and was opened for signature in September 2023. It will enter into force 120 days after the 60th ratification. As of now, nearly 100 countries have signed it, and eight of them have ratified it.

Belize became the first CARICOM Member State to ratify the agreement on 8 April 2024.

CARICOM Member States have been actively engaged from the outset of the negotiations and have been vocal leaders in all aspects of the negotiation process. As we move towards the entry into force of the agreement, CARICOM Foreign Ministers at the Council for Foreign and Community Relations have mandated the formation of a Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Group (MSAG) to support and guide countries to ratification and early implementation of the Treaty.