Expert workshop series on BBNJ Fund operationalisation

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Operationalising the BBNJ Special Fund: Lessons from Multilateral Fund Practitioners Ahead of COP1

This workshop series looks at how existing multilateral environmental funds, and comparable global funds, have been designed and operate in practice.

The series provides a comparative picture of fund design and operation, looking at what has worked, what has not and what was resolved too late. It aims to uncover lessons for the operationalisation of the special fund.

It is designed to build the capacity and understanding of negotiators, delegations and other participants involved with operationalising the special fund ahead of COP1.

The three thematic sessions invite representatives from leading multilateral funds to provide an overview of the fund governance and operations. Participants will be able to listen and question how existing funds have been designed and operate in practice.

DATES: Thursday September 3rd, 10th, and 17th 2026

TIME: New York 9 am  / London 2 pm / Nairobi 4 pm / Sydney 11 pm / Suva 1 am

SESSION: approx 2.5 hours

VENUE: Virtual on Zoom

HOST:  Advisory Group on BBNJ Finance
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Workshop 1 – 3 Sep – Biodiversity Funds:

Cali Fund, Land Degradation Neutrality Fund, Global Fund for Coral Reefs, the WTO Fish Fund, Multilateral Fund

Workshop 2 – 10 Sep – Climate Change Funds:

 GCF, Adaptation Fund, Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage

Workshop 3 – 17 Sep – Other Funds (Health):

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, GAVI, and the Pandemic Fund

Each fund has a 20 minute presentation to answer key questions provided beforehand, followed by a 10 minute question and answer session.

Presenting Funds TBC
  • Blue and white mostly text based logoi of the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol..
  • The Global Fund's red, yellow and blue swirls converging logo
  • Global Fund For Coral Reefs
  • Blue and green half-spheres enveloping an illustrated rendering of Planet Earth's globe.
  • Adaptation Fund logo, featuring a white stylized plant on a green square beside the words ‘ADAPTATION FUND’ in grey capital letters.
  • Cali Fund logo, featuring a multicoloured circular fingerprint-style symbol beside the words ‘CALI FUND’ in red capital letters, with the tagline ‘FOR OUR BIODIVERSE FUTURE’ in blue below.
  • FRLD logo for the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, featuring dark green lettering alongside a stylised globe with green continents, flowing white lines and a leaf motif, with the fund’s full name in teal below.
  • The Pandemic Fund logo, featuring an overlapping circular arrangement of colourful red, green, blue and yellow shapes beside the words ‘The Pandemic Fund’ in bold black lettering, with the tagline ‘FOR A RESILIENT WORLD’ below
  • Fish Fund logo for the World Trade Organisation's Fisheries Funding Mechanism Trust Fund, featuring teal ‘FISH FUND’ lettering with a blue fish silhouette forming the ‘I’ in ‘FISH’, separated by a vertical line from the fund’s full name in blue.
  • Global Environment Facility (GEF) logo, featuring a blue circular symbol wrapped by a green swoosh above the lowercase letters ‘gef’, separated by a vertical blue line from the words ‘global environment facility’ in green, with the tagline ‘INVESTING IN OUR PLANET’ below.
  • Mirova Responsible Investing logo, featuring the word ‘mirova’ in black serif lettering with abstract black, blue and purple starburst and circular shapes above, and the tagline ‘Responsible Investing’ in purple below.
  • Green Climate Fund logo, featuring a faceted geometric sphere in shades of green, teal and blue beside the words ‘GREEN CLIMATE FUND’ in dark grey capital letters.

Background

The BBNJ Agreement entered into force on 17 January 2026 and will have its first Conference of the Parties (COP) from 11 - 22 January 2027. The Agreement in Article 52 establishes a financial mechanism, including a new special fund, to provide “adequate, accessible, new and additional and predictable financial resources” to assist developing State Parties in implementing the Agreement. At its third session (PrepCom III), the Preparatory Commission finalised a draft decision recommending that COP1 establish an ad hoc committee to support the operationalisation of the special fund by developing and recommending its constitutive document.

The ad hoc committee will develop and recommend a constitutive document for the special fund, recommendations that will have significant implications for not only the design of the fund, but the funds chances to promote increased funding in the high seas and to support developing States Parties. The draft decision sets out draft terms of reference providing that the constitutive document shall address numerous different aspects of fund design, including the special fund's governance structure (including trustee and secretariat), legal status, operational modalities including access and allocation, sources of financial resources and the use of innovative financial tools, complementarity with other funds, and arrangements for reporting, accountability, review and evaluation.

Delegations through these workshops will have the opportunity to directly engage and discuss in detail with other multilateral funds on their experiences, structures, and lessons.

Key Questions Covered

Using the proposed ad hoc committee for the operationalisation of the special fund and the terms of reference for the proposed constitutive document as a guide, the workshops will ask each of the funds to generally cover the following five main sections:

1. Overview of the fund's purpose, structure, and types of projects. Seeking to answer key architectural questions around chosen trustee, secretariat, and governance models. Identifying how these architectural choices were made, how they impact the work of the fund, and how the fund is able to operate both cost-effectively and while also ensuring equitable, effective and representative governance structures.

  • Covering TOR sections: (a)-(d). 



2. An overview of how the fund is resourced and the types of contributions received. Identifying how the fund is able to mobilise funding, and which financial and innovative tools the fund use to allocate its funding. Further discussing the role of the private sector and what fund infrastructure is needed to mobilise and allocate private sector funding if this is applicable. Identifying what funding and tools have been most effective for the Fund and for recipients?

  • Covering TOR sections: (f)-(g)

3. Providing an overview of: access, accreditation, application and allocation. Discussing which entities are able to receive funding under the Fund, how recipients access funding (direct access/ accreditation), and how the Fund has determined and evolved its allocation criteria over time. Identify whether there are barriers and different pathways for certain categories of States and entities (such as SIDS and IP&LC).

  • Covering TOR sections: (e).



4. An overview of the general review, evaluation, and cooperation mechanisms within the fund. Including how the fund seeks to avoid duplication and promote complementarity and coherence with other like-minded public and private funds. Identifying whether the fund has created any joint mechanisms or processes with other funds, and whether they have been effective.

  • Covering TOR sections: (h)-(k)



5. Key takeaways as to how the fund could support the BBNJ Agreement, and from previous review cycles and discussions, identify perceived barriers and issues with accessing and receiving funding?

Related briefs

Opportunities to Mobilise Funding from Private Entities for High Seas Conservation

Overview of Institutional Arrangements of Multilateral Environmental Funds in Preparation for the Special Fund

Supporting the Coherence of the BBNJ Agreement’s Financial Mechanism

Public-Private Partnerships for the High Seas: Engaging the Special Fund

The UNSW Centre for Sustainable Development Reform is leading research focused on legal and governance elements to support the establishment of the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). In the lead up to ratification the Advisory Group was convened to provide independent expert analysis and thought leadership on the design and implementation of Article 52 of the BBNJ Agreement. The Centre is serving as the Secretariat to the BBNJ Expert Advisory Group. This work is supported by the financial contributions from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

 

The Advisory Group on BBNJ Finance brings together global experts with diverse geographical and gender perspectives and specialised knowledge in international finance, ocean governance, and environmental law.

The Advisory Group's work aims to:

  • Support the effective operationalisation of the BBNJ Agreement's financial mechanism by developing timely outputs designed to inform deliberations of Parties and the work of the Preparatory Commission Co-chairs. 
  • Contribute diverse perspectives to advance discussions and offer expert insights.

The outputs of the Advisory Group represent independent inputs and do not necessarily represent the thinking of any government, regional body, or international organisation.