Orchestration in the Global Ocean Governance of the BBNJ

We will assess the effectiveness of International Organizations in terms of what they can and do and how they operate, including their involvement of private actors and institutions as partners in the operation. In collaborating with private actors, international organizations are better able to support and shape their activities, increasing the legitimacy of the regulations and compliance with them. This is called Transnational New Governance, and consists of an intricate global network of public, private and mixed institutions and norms, orchestrated by the international organization in question. When properly orchestrated, these TNGs can overcome regime ineffectiveness thereby improving their regulatory performance. For the newly started negotiations of the treaty on protection of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdictions (BBNJ treaty), proposed to last for two years and four meetings, we explore to what degree there is orchestration and moves towards TNG, and compare the ongoing process with that of other IOs that are already actively engaged with private actors and institutions, such as that of UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The current paper presents results from the four meetings of the preparatory committees, as well as the organizational meeting (April 2018) and the first negotiation meeting in New York (September 2018).