The Global Risks Forum (GRF)
The high seas and the deep seabed, the atmosphere, Antarctica and outer space lie beyond national jurisdiction or are shared by all. No single state can protect them, and each regime that governs them balances freedom of use against collective restraint. This page sets out the treaty regimes for the global commons, how decisions are taken and recorded within them, and what negotiators, secretariats and scientific bodies need to govern spaces that belong to no one and to everyone.
Global commons · Shared basin dialogue · Round 4
| Art. 3 | Data exchange | 0 | Agreed ad ref |
| Art. 5 | Low-flow sharing | 8 | Open |
| Art. 7 | Notification of works | 3 | Open |
| Art. 9 | Dispute avoidance | 3 | Not discussed |
Fig.Negotiation track desk. Design wireframe with placeholder names and illustrative values, not a record or a live system.
Global commons governance is the set of treaty regimes that manage areas beyond national jurisdiction or shared by all: the high seas and deep seabed, the atmosphere, Antarctica and outer space. No single state can protect them, and each regime balances freedom of use against collective restraint, often by consensus.
The jurisdictions that hold authority over this question: countries, their first-level divisions and capitals, shown for East Africa as an example geography for this subject.
Oceans, atmosphere, polar and other commons. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Where use is free and costs are shared, each user has an incentive to take more than is sustainable. High seas fisheries and the atmosphere as a sink for pollutants are the classic cases; regimes respond with quotas, controls and shared monitoring.
The deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction is the common heritage of mankind under the Law of the Sea Convention, administered by the International Seabed Authority. The BBNJ Agreement adds benefit-sharing rules for marine genetic resources of areas beyond national jurisdiction.
The Montreal Protocol tied its controls to scientific assessment panels and adjusted them as evidence changed. The Antarctic Treaty set aside territorial claims, reserved the continent for peace and science and gave parties a right of inspection.
Commons regimes overlap: fisheries bodies, regional seas conventions, the seabed authority and the high seas agreement each hold part of the ocean. Consensus rules protect minorities but slow decisions while use outpaces regulation.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| BBNJ Agreement | The UN agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. |
| Common heritage of mankind | The principle that resources of the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction belong to all, administered by the International Seabed Authority. |
| Montreal Protocol | The treaty that phases out ozone-depleting substances, often cited as a model of effective restraint. |
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parties to commons agreements | count of parties | continuous | UN Treaty Collection and treaty depositaries | OFFICIAL |
| Controlled substance consumption reported under the Montreal Protocol | ozone-depletion potential tonnes | annual | Data reported by parties to the Ozone Secretariat | REPORTED |
| Marine protected areas beyond national jurisdiction | percent of area beyond national jurisdiction | annual | World Database on Protected Areas | OFFICIAL |
| Exploration contracts for deep seabed minerals | count of contracts | continuous | International Seabed Authority records | OFFICIAL |
| Inspections under the Antarctic Treaty | inspection reports per season | annual | Antarctic Treaty Secretariat | OFFICIAL |
| Apparent fishing effort on the high seas | fishing hours | monthly | Vessel tracking analysis | ESTIMATED |
| Space objects registered | count of objects | continuous | UNOOSA register | OFFICIAL |
The topic as a computational graph: named sources feed the methods, an evidence review gates the outputs, and the decisions stay with the authorities that hold them.
Fig. 02Nodes carry their type, two metric rows and a state; connectors show what feeds what; dashed frames name the owners; the timeline is the cadence. Design of the pipeline, not a record of a run.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| UN Treaty Collection | Status of the Law of the Sea Convention, the BBNJ Agreement, the Montreal Protocol and its amendments | Public records, UN terms of use |
| International Seabed Authority records | Contracts, Council and Assembly decisions and the draft exploitation regulations | Public records |
| Antarctic Treaty Secretariat database | Measures, decisions, resolutions and inspection reports | Public records |
| Ozone Secretariat data centre | Production and consumption data reported by parties and compliance decisions | Public records |
| Protected Planet and the World Database on Protected Areas | Protected areas in national waters and beyond | Free for non-commercial use, terms of use |
| Global Fishing Watch | Fishing activity estimated from vessel tracking signals | Free for non-commercial use, attribution |
| UNOOSA register of objects launched into outer space | Objects registered under the Registration Convention | Public records |
Diplomacy Nexus prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Parties to the BBNJ Agreement | How to set up area-based management tools, impact assessment and benefit sharing in practice | Regime maps, scientific proposals, practice in regional seas and fisheries bodies |
| Members of the International Seabed Authority Council | Whether and on what terms to adopt regulations for exploitation | The draft regulations, environmental baselines and the record of positions |
| Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties | Which measures to adopt on tourism, protected areas and environmental protection | Advice from the Committee for Environmental Protection and SCAR, inspection reports |
| Parties to the Montreal Protocol | Whether to adjust controls on substances in light of new assessments | Assessment panel reports and reported consumption data |
Open-access resources tend to be overused, because each user gains the full benefit of use while sharing the cost of depletion. Research on common-pool resources has shown that communities can manage commons sustainably under certain conditions, such as clear boundaries, monitoring and graduated sanctions, but these are harder to achieve at global scale.
International regimes govern specific commons: the law of the sea and related agreements for ocean areas, the Antarctic Treaty system, space treaties and atmospheric agreements. Gaps and overlaps exist, and new technologies create activities the regimes did not anticipate.
Science plays a large role, since the state of the commons, such as fish stocks, ozone or orbital debris, can be known only through shared monitoring.
Shared understanding from fields such as ocean and coastal science, drawing on GCRI platforms.
Comparing regimes and their effectiveness, using policy science.
Using game theory to understand cooperation on shared resources.
Convening scientists, institutions and practitioners on commons questions.
Regimes for each commons are decided by their parties; the platform takes no position on contested issues.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.