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The member states of the UN reached an agreement, this Saturday, on the first international treaty to protect the high seas. The document sets the foundations for establishing marine protected areas, with the ambition to safeguard up to 30% of the oceans by 2030.
After 15 years of negotiations, UN member states reached agreement on the first international treaty to protect the high seas. The objective is to face the threats that weigh on vital ecosystems for humanity and, for this, the document defines the bases for the establishment of protected maritime areas with the ambition of safeguarding at least 30% of the oceans by 2030.
Although the text has been finalized and should not undergo substantial changes, it should only be formally adopted later, after being reviewed by the legal services and translated into the six official languages of the UN.
The exact content of the document was not immediately made public, but activists hailed it as a decisive step towards protecting biodiversity.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, also congratulated the delegates and spoke of “victory for multilateralism and for global efforts to stop the destructive trends that threaten the health of the oceans today and for generations to come”.
The high seas begin where the exclusive economic zones of the States end, about 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the coasts, therefore not being under the jurisdiction of any State. Although the high seas represent more than 60% of the oceans, for a long time it was underestimated in the ecological fight to the detriment of coastal areas and some emblematic species. Now, the progress of science has shown the importance of protecting these oceans, full of an often microscopic biodiversity, which also supplies half of the oxygen we breathe and limits global warming by absorbing a significant part of the CO2 emitted by human activities. The problem is that the high seas are also suffering from these CO2 emissions, from global warming and the acidification of the water, but also from all kinds of pollution and overfishing.
When it enters into force – after it has been formally adopted, signed and ratified by a sufficient number of countries – the new treaty should create marine protected areas in these international waters. It is estimated that only 1% of the high seas are subject to conservation measures, so this treaty is considered essential to be able to protect, by 2030, 30% of the planet’s land and oceans.