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; High Seas Treaty) — is a multilateral treaty based on United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. BBNJ regulates in areas beyond national jurisdiction the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity through: (1) marine genetic resources, including benefit-sharing; (2) area-based management tools, including marine protected areas; (3) environmental impact assessments; and (4) capacity-building and transfer of marine technology. It also establishes institutional arrangements (Conference of the Parties, subsidiary bodies, a clearing-house mechanism), general principles and approaches (including ecosystem and precautionary approaches), cooperation and coordination clauses and compliance and dispute-settlement provisions. The objective of the Agreement is to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, for the present and in the long term, through effective implementation of relevant UNCLOS provisions and further international cooperation and coordination.

The Memorandum of Cooperation between Ministry of the Environment of Japan and Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the Field of Environment is a non-legally binding agreement that was signed and became effective on 16 December 2020. The Memorandum establishes a framework for cooperation on environmental protection, preservation, and strategic planning, and promotes environmental technology studies and capacity-building. The purpose of the cooperation is to protect and preserve the environment through measures such as water quality and wastewater management, marine protection, combating land degradation and desertification, integrated coastal zone management, and early warning systems to reduce vulnerability to extreme weather events.

The Memorandum is done in Arabic, English and Japanese languages, all texts having equal values. Only English text is available.

The Paris Agreement is a multilateral environmental treaty adopted during the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It regulates global efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions, enhance adaptation to climate impacts, and mobilize climate finance. The purpose of the Agreement is to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C, increase adaptive capacity to climate change, and make finance flows consistent with low emissions and climate-resilient development.

The Agreement recognizes in its preamble the importance of ensuring the integrity of all ecosystems, including biodiversity, when taking action to address climate change. Additionally, Article 7 recognizes that adaptation action should follow a country-driven approach that takes into consideration vulnerable ecosystems, which has direct implications for biodiversity protection.

The Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Russian Federation on Cooperation for the Purposes of Preventing, Deterring and Eliminating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing is a bilateral treaty. It regulates the cooperation among the multiple government agencies in both countries in addressing illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. The purpose of the Agreement is to prevent illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and preserve common interest in the conservation, rational management, and optimal utilization of living marine resources.

The Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Argentine Republic on cooperation in the field of environmental protection is a bilateral environmental treaty. It promotes collaboration in environmental protection and sustainable management based on equality, respect for sovereignty, and mutual benefit. The objective of the agreement is to foster cooperation in areas such as biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of natural resources, climate change adaptation, pollution prevention, and environmental education. Specific areas of focus include environmental impact assessment, monitoring, waste management, restoration of contaminated areas, use of best available technologies, and enhancing public ecological awareness.

The Agreement is done in the Spanish and Russian languages, both texts being equally authentic. The text in Spanish is not available.

The Protocol for the Conservation of Biological Diversity to the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea (Ashgabat Protocol) is a regional treaty adopted at the fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 5) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, on 30 May 2014. It regulates the cooperation in protection, preservation and restoration of marine biological resources in the Caspian Sea region. The Protocol recognizes the Caspian Sea as a unique ecosystem, which contains a large number of biotopes and species of great national, regional and global importance that need protection, preservation and restoration, and the need to guarantee sustainable and rational use of biological resources. The objectives of the Ashgabat Protocol are to protect, preserve, and restore the health and integrity of the biological diversity and the ecosystem of the Caspian Sea as well as to ensure the sustainable use of biological resources and in that context:

(a) To safeguard threatened species, and vulnerable ecosystems, to ensure their long–term viability and diversity;

(b) To prevent decline, degradation and damage to species, habitats and ecological systems, directed by the precautionary principle;

(c) To protect and conserve those areas that best represent the high range of species, special habitats, ecological systems and natural and related cultural heritage.

The Azerbaijani, English, Farsi, Kazakh, Russian, and Turkmeni texts of this Protocol are equally authentic. However, only English and Russian texts are currently available.

The Ashgabat Protocol has not entered into force.

The Agreement on Cooperation in the field of environmental protection of the CIS Member States is a regional multilateral environmental treaty. It establishes a framework for cooperation among the Parties in the field of environmental protection. The Agreement aims to promote the protection and sustainable use of natural resources, including lands, soil, subsoil, forests, water, atmospheric air, the ozone layer, climate, flora, and fauna. To achieve these goals, the Parties cooperate through the Interstate Environmental Council of the CIS Member States, established under the Agreement. The Council facilitates the coordination of efforts, the development of shared policies, and the exchange of scientific and technical expertise.

The authentic text of the Agreement exists only in Russian.

The Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fisheries Resources in the North Pacific Ocean is a regional treaty. It aims to ensure the long-term conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources in the North Pacific Ocean, while protecting the marine ecosystems of the North Pacific Ocean in which these resources occur (Article 2). The Convention establishes the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC) as to co-ordinate regional cooperation among coastal States and fishing entities with power to make binding decisions and it was created to promote responsible fishing practices, prevent overexploitation, and protect marine biodiversity in the high seas areas of the North Pacific. The Convention serves for developing, implementing, and enforcing science-based management measures, including catch limits, monitoring protocols, and ecosystem-based approaches.

In 2015 Chinese Taipei agreed to be bound by the regime established by the Convention in accordance with its Article 5.2 and to participate in the Commission for the Conservation and Management of fisheries resources of the North Pacific Ocean.

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Nagoya Protocol) is a multilateral environmental agreement adopted at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Nagoya Protocol provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources. Its purpose is to enhance the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources, and to technologies, and by appropriate funding, thereby contributing to the conservation of biological diversity and the sustainable use of its components.

The Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (Agreement on Port State Measures, PSMA) is a multilateral treaty concluded under the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The Agreement regulates access to ports and the use of port services by foreign vessels, including procedures for advance notification, authorization or denial of port entry, inspection, reporting, and enforcement. States Parties are required to deny port access and services when there is evidence that a vessel has engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IIU) fishing. The objective of the Agreement is to prevent, deter, and eliminate IUU fishing through the implementation of effective port State measures, thereby contributing to the long-term conservation and sustainable use of living marine resources and ecosystems.

The Memorandum of Understanding concerning the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia is a non-legally binding agreement under Article IV, paragraph 4 of the Bonn Convention, as defined by Resolution 2.6 adopted at the Second Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (Geneva, 11-14 October 1988). It provides a framework for regional cooperation in the conservation of African-Eurasian migratory species of birds of prey. Under the Memorandum, States recognize that migratory birds of prey serve as high-level indicators of ecosystem health and climate change across their range.

The Memorandum of Understanding became effective on 1 November 2008.

Protocol on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological and Landscape Diversity to the Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians is a regional multilateral treaty aimed at enhancing of conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biological and landscape diversity of the Carpathians, bringing benefits to present and future generations. Under this Protocol, Parties shall harmonise and coordinate their efforts and cooperate on conservation, maintenance and sustainable use of natural and semi-natural habitats, and securing their continuity and connectivity; restoration of degraded habitats; conservation and sustainable use of species of flora and fauna characteristic to the Carpathians, in particular on conservation of endangered or endemic species and large carnivores.

The Agreement on the Conservation of Gorillas and Their Habitats (Gorilla Agreement) is multilateral treaty adopted in Paris on 26 October 2007. It aims to take co-ordinated measures to maintain gorillas in a favourable conservation status or to restore them to such a status. The geographical scope of this Agreement is all the Range States of all species and sub-species of gorillas, namely: Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda. Under Gorilla Agreement, the effective implementation embodies assistance to be provided to some Range States for research, training and monitoring of gorillas and their habitats, for the management of those habitats as well as for the establishment or improvement of scientific and administrative institutions for the implementation of this Agreement.

Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea are Range States to the Gorilla Agreement.

Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Republic of Korea on the Protection of Migratory Birds (Republic of Korea–Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (ROKAMBA)) is a bilateral environmental treaty aimed to protect bird species, which regularly migrate between Australia and the Republic of Korea, and their environment. The ROKAMBA regulates co-operation between the Republic of Korea and Australia concentrated on protection of migratory birds (the list of which is contained in the Annex to the Agreement) and their habitats in a number of ways. Article 2 of the ROKAMBA obliges Australia and the Republic of Korea to prohibit the taking of migratory birds and their eggs except in specified circumstances. Parties are also encouraged to exchange the data and publications relating to migratory birds, to formulate joint research programs.

The Protocol Concerning the Conservation of Biological Diversity and the Establishment of a Network of Protected Areas in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (Biodiversity Protocol) to the Regional Convention for the Conservation of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Environment (Jeddah Convention) was adopted in 2005 under the auspices of the Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden (PERSGA). Its objectives are the conservation, protection and restoration of the health and integrity of the ecosystems and biological diversity in the PERSGA region, and it was adopted to safeguard the threatened species, the critical habitats, sites of particular importance, as well as representative types of coastal and marine ecosystems, their biodiversity and their sustainable use and management, to ensure long-term viability and diversity. The Protocol sets out obligations for Contracting Parties to develop and implement management plans for each protected area, promote scientific research and monitoring, and engage stakeholders, including local communities, in conservation activities. It prioritizes the protection of endemic and migratory species and addresses threats driven by urbanization, population growth, and economic development, which risk biodiversity loss.

There is no information on ratification status of the Protocol by any of the Contracting Parties to the Regional Convention for the Conservation of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Environment. The Protocol has not entered into force.

The Treaty on the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa to establish the Central African Forests Commission is a regional treaty signed in 2005 in Brazzaville and aimed at promoting the long-term conservation and sustainable use of forest ecosystems in Central Africa. It establishes the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) to coordinate cooperation among member States in managing forest resources responsibly, preventing degradation, and preserving biodiversity. The treaty provides a framework for developing, implementing, and enforcing sustainable forest management policies and actions based on scientific principles and regional collaboration.

Status page for the Treaty on the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa to establish the Central African Forests Commission is not available, the link attached to is the page of the COMIFAC members.

Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea (Tehran Convention) is a regional multilateral treaty adopted by five Caspian littoral States. It promotes cooperation and environmental protection in the Caspian Sea region. The Tehran Convention regulates the joint protection and management of the Caspian environment and its resources. Its objective is the protection of the Caspian environment from all sources of pollution including the protection, preservation, restoration and sustainable and rational use of the biological resources of the Caspian Sea.

Under the Tehran Convention the following protocols are adopted: the Protocol Concerning Regional Preparedness, Response and Co-operation in Combating Oil Pollution Incidents, the Protocol for the Protection of the Caspian Sea against Pollution from Land-based Sources and Activities, the Protocol for the Conservation of Biological Diversity, the Protocol on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context.

The Tehran Convention is done in Azerbaijani, English, Farsi, Russian, Kazakh, and Turkmen, all texts being authentic. Only English and Russian texts are available.

The Framework Convention on the Protection and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians (Carpathian Convention) is a regional multilateral treaty which unites 7 Carpathian countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It regulates the cooperation and multi-sectoral policy integration in conservation and protection of environment in the entire Carpathian region. The objective of the Carpathian Convention is to pursue a comprehensive policy and cooperate for the protection and sustainable development of the Carpathians with a view to inter alia improving quality of life, strengthening local economies and communities, and conservation of natural values and cultural heritage.

Under the Carpathian Convention, the following protocols are adopted: the Protocol On Conservation And Sustainable Use of Biological and Landscape Diversity, the Protocol on Sustainable Forest Management, the Protocol on Sustainable Tourism, the Protocol on Sustainable Transport, the Protocol on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.

New Article on Climate Change (12bis) has entered into force only for Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine.

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) is a multilateral treaty adopted by the FAO Conference. It facilitates international cooperation for the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, while ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use. The treaty aims to establish a global system that provides farmers, breeders, and scientists with access to plant genetic materials and ensures that benefits from their use are shared fairly. It operates in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity to promote sustainable agriculture and food security.

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) is a multilateral treaty adopted in 2001. It regulates the international cooperation in mitigation of known threats to populations of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters. The Agreement’s objective is to achieve and maintain a favorable conservation status for these species. Parties to ACAP recognize that albatrosses and petrels are integral to marine ecosystems and must be conserved for the benefit of present and future generations. Their conservation is considered a matter of common concern, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Agreement has been amended in 2018 by the Sixth Session of the Meeting of the Parties.

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (Stockholm Convention, POPs Convention) is a multilateral treaty adopted by the Conference of the Plenipotentiaries on 22 May 2001, in Stockholm. The Convention regulates the production, use, import, export, disposal, and release of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) — chemicals that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food, and pose risks to human health and ecosystems. It includes legally binding provisions for eliminating or restricting the production and use of chemicals listed in Annexes A and B, and for reducing or eliminating releases from unintentional production of chemicals listed in Annex C​. Under Article 1 of this Convention, its objective is to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants.

The Convention plays a role in biodiversity protection by addressing pollutants that bioaccumulate in species and ecosystems, thereby reducing toxic threats to wildlife and preserving ecological integrity.

The Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish language texts of the amendments adopted in 2022 and 2023 at the tenth and eleventh meetings, respectively, of the Conference of the Parties are currently being finalized and will be made available on the Convention website shortly. The Arabic text of 2019 version is not available.

Agreement for the Establishment of a Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Western Region is a regional treaty within the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This Agreement establishes the Desert Locust Control Commission for the Western Region which purpose is to promote, at national, regional and international level, action, research and training to ensure the preventive control of and appropriate response to the invasions of the desert locust in the western region of its distribution area, encompassing West Africa and North-West Africa. Under this legal framework, each Member Nation of the Commission undertakes to implement the preventive control strategy and to deal with plagues of the desert locust within its territory and thus to avoid or reduce agro-sylvo-pastoral damage to itself and to the other Nations in the invasion area (Article VI).

The Council of Europe Landscape Convention is a multilateral environmental treaty adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe. This Convention regulates the regional cooperation in promoting sustainable landscape protection, management and planning. According to the preamble, Parties are intended to achieve sustainable development based on a balanced and harmonious relationship between social needs, economic activity, and the environment recognizing that the landscape has an important public interest role in the cultural, ecological, environmental and social fields, and constitutes a resource favourable to economic activity and whose protection, management and planning can contribute to job creation.

The Convention was amended by the Protocol (entered into force on 1 July 2021) in order to promote European co-operation with non-European States who wish to implement the provisions of the Convention.

The Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Cartagena Protocol) is a multilateral environmental treaty adopted in Montreal at an extraordinary meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Convention (CBD). The Cartagena Protocol complements the CBD focusing specifically on transboundary movement of any living modified organism resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effect on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. The Protocol regulates transboundary movement, transit, handling and use of all living modified organisms that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health. The objective of the Cartagena Protocol is to contribute to ensuring an adequate level of protection in the field of the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking also into account risks to human health, and specifically focusing on transboundary movements.

International Agreement on the creation of a Marine Mammal Sanctuary in the Mediterranean (Pelagos Agreement) is international treaty dedicated to the protection of marine mammals and their habitats in the Mediterranean Sea. The Pelagos Agreement aims to promote harmonised actions and management measures for the protection of cetaceans and their habitats against all causes of human-induced disturbance and mortality. Under this agreement, the Marine Sanctuary in the Mediterranean area is defined as an Agreement Area where protection and management actions are carried out by State Parties.

Authentic texts: French and Italian. The source for English translation is the official site of the Agreement.