The House of Representatives ratified the Agreement under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, commonly known as the BBNJ Agreement, as government MPs defined the resolution as solidifying the country’s position as a global climate change leader.
Antigua and Barbuda originally signed the agreement on September 20, 2023, and the parliamentary ratification marked the final step in formally adopting the international treaty.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who presented the resolution, emphasized that the agreement provided Antigua and Barbuda with legal pathways to hold major polluters accountable for environmental damage.
“This particular Convention is very important for us to be part of the overall UN Convention for the Law of the Sea, so that we can get the necessary protections, and ensure that entities, countries, and companies involved in fossil fuels and other environmentally degrading actions can be held responsible under the law,” Prime Minister Browne said.
The BBNJ Agreement, adopted on June 19, 2023, represents the third implementing agreement to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
It addresses four main issues: marine genetic resources including fair benefit sharing, area-based management tools including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, and capacity-building with transfer of marine technology.
Attorney General Sir Steadroy Benjamin noted the agreement’s significance extends beyond national boundaries.
Meanwhile, Environment Minister Sir Molwyn Joseph highlighted the government’s climate advocacy efforts.
“When we have hurricanes and become devastated, small island states, in order to recover, have to go looking for grants, begging; but we cannot sue the large countries, the developed countries that are polluting the entire planet,” Sir Molwyn said.
However, while supporting the resolution, the Member for Barbuda, Hon Trevor Walker, questioned the consistency between the government’s international climate advocacy and domestic environmental practices.
“You cannot — as a small island like Antigua and Barbuda, that has limited seabed and has lost almost all the corals around these islands from global warming — tell the world one thing and do another at home,” Walker stated.
Walker specifically referenced dredging activities at Nonsuch Bay, claiming the government has “destroyed hectares of seabed” to accommodate larger ships for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
Minister Melford Nicholas vehemently rejected this characterization, calling it “erroneous” and “a fabrication”.
“When the government was approached by the Antigua Public Utilities Authority to expand its energy generating capacity, the Cabinet said ‘we do not want to continue with dirty fuel’. Based on the government’s commitment in the Paris Agreement to reduce our carbon footprint, we wanted to move towards cleaner forms of energy,” MP Nicholas explained.
He clarified that the dredging involves an existing channel that requires deepening to a minimum of 8 meters to accommodate ships, and maintained the work was not destroying seagrass or other marine ecosystems. “Nothing could be further from the truth. This is entirely a fabrication,” Minister Nicholas said.
Prime Minister Browne accused Walker of consistently spreading “misinformation and disinformation” and pointed to what he described as environmental degradation in Barbuda, including sand mining that destroyed sand dunes prior to Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Browne defended his administration’s climate credentials, claiming that his administration was “the most climate-responsible administration this country has seen”.
