After nearly two decades of negotiations, the High Seas Treaty is the new United Nations legal framework for preserving marine biodiversity in international waters. The goal is to declare 30% of the world’s oceans as protected areas, devoting more money to conservation and covering access and use of genetic resources.
The High Seas Treaty is the new legal framework agreed by the United Nations to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
The delegates of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction reached an agreement, after months of work and nearly two decades of negotiations, during this first weekend of March. The drafting of the text is ready and will be formally adopted and ratified by the countries, for its entry into force.
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30% protected areas
The objective is to increase ocean protected areas to 30%, whereas currently there is just over 1% of the biodiversity of high seas protected areas.
The UN-facilitated talks had begun in 2004, hence the satisfaction of the current UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, who congratulated the member countries and thanked in particular the leadership of Ambassador Rena Lee, from Singapore. Furthermore, he acknowledged the essential support given to the realization of the High Seas Treaty by non-governmental organizations, civil society, academic institutions and the scientific community.
“This is a victory for multilateralism and for global efforts to counter the destructive trends facing ocean health today and for generations to come.António Guterres, just hours after the deal was struck at UN headquarters in New York, where final negotiations on the draft treaty have been taking place for the past two weeks.
The triple planetary crisis requires preserving marine biodiversity
This treaty encourage the declaration of 30% of the world’s oceans as protected areas, through increased investment in marine conservation and covering access to and use of marine genetic resources.
António Guterres argued that this pact is crucial to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. He also said he would continue to workto ensure a healthier, more resilient and productive ocean that benefits current and future generations”.
In this sense, according to the Secretary-General, the treaty is “vital to achieving the ocean-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework“, in reference to the so-called “30×30” commitment to protect a third of the world’s biodiversity, on land and at sea by 2030. This commitment was expressed at a UN conference in Montreal in last December.
In turn, the Conference decision on marine biodiversity is based on the legacy of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Among the next steps to be taken is the formal adoption of the text by delegations.
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