On 17 January 2026, the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement entered into force—a watershed legal milestone for ocean governance.

By creating the first comprehensive treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine life in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the world has finally acknowledged that nearly two-thirds of our planet’s ocean cannot be governed by conservation intent alone.

But from a blue finance perspective, entry into force is only the starting gun—not the finish line. As several colleagues involved in shaping the treaty’s finance architecture have already noted, getting finance right early matters. The treaty’s ambitious vision for high seas protection means very little unless the financial mechanisms to implement it are rapidly operationalised.

Why this matters for blue finance

📌 The Agreement establishes a financial architecture under Article 52 that includes a voluntary trust fund, the GEF trust fund, andcriticallya new special fund designed specifically for BBNJ implementation.

📌 Developed States Parties now have a binding obligation to contribute to the special fund. But that obligation only becomes meaningful when:

• governance arrangements are in place

• access procedures for resources are operationalised

This is where finance shifts from promise to practice.

Without clear instruments, transparent governance, and streamlined access, even mandatory contributions can remain inert.

The blue finance opportunity

🌊 We now have a legal anchor for ocean finance in the high seasa giant step compared with the previous governance gap.

🌊 There’s room for innovative finance: from assessed contributions and marine genetic resource benefit streams to diversified public-private capital.

🌊 The Preparatory Commission and COP1 are now pivotal moments for shaping:

• fund governance

• modalities for different funding sources

• mechanisms that actually invite institutional capital and blended finance into this space

A moment to reframe the narrative

There’s a lot of justified celebration around the treatyand rightly so.

But the real question for those of us working at the intersection of ocean policy and capital markets isn’t just:

Did it enter into force?

It’s:

Can we now mobilise, scale and direct capital to meet the ambition embedded in it?

That’s the blue finance challenge—and opportunity—ahead of us.