Living High Seas translates the Agreement on High Seas Biodiversity (BBNJ) into practical area-based management realities. At the core of the project is a diverse coalition of partner countries (Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Indonesia, Micronesia, Senegal). These pioneers are supported in submitting regionally co-developed proposals for area-based management tools (ABMTs), including marine protected areas (MPAs), to the BBNJ Secretariat for selected sites of high biodiversity and climate value in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. The project strengthens capacities of partner countries and relevant actors for the design of evidence-based ABMT/MPA proposals and their management, develops governance mechanisms, fosters knowledge exchange and policy uptake, and generates ABMT/MPA quality standards that enable replication. It contributes to the “30×30 target” of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) by paving the way for protection of high seas marine ecosystems.