Member States of the United Nations finally reached an agreement on Saturday night (4) for the first international treaty to protect the high seas, aimed at combating threats to vital ecosystems for humanity. “The ship has reached shore,” announced conference chair Rena Lee at UN Headquarters in New York to loud and prolonged applause from delegates.
After more than 15 years of discussions, including four years of formal negotiations, the third “last” session in New York was finally final, or nearly so.
Delegates finalized the text with content now attached to the fund, but the document will be formally adopted at a later date after it has been reviewed by legal services and translated to make it available in the six official languages of the UN.
The exact content of the text was not immediately published, but activists hailed it as a game-changer for protecting biodiversity. “It’s a historic day for conservation, and a sign that, in a divided world, protecting nature and people can triumph over geopolitics,” said Laura Meller of Greenpeace.
After two weeks of intense discussions, including a long session that lasted from the early hours of Friday (3) to Saturday, delegates finalized a text that can no longer be significantly changed. “There will be no reopening or substantive discussions” about this file, Lee informed negotiators.
“Historic moment for our oceans”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres congratulated the delegates, according to one of his spokespersons, who said the agreement is a “victory for multilateralism and for global efforts to combat the destructive trends that threaten the health of the oceans, today and for generations to come”.
I’m extremely encouraged that countries have agreed on the UN legally binding instrument to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction.
This is an important step to protect our oceans.
—António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 5, 2023
The agreement is “a historic moment for our oceans”, hailed the European Commissioner for the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius, this Sunday (5), saying he was “very proud” with this result.
“We are taking a crucial step towards preserving marine life and biodiversity that are essential for us and for generations to come,” said the European official in a statement.
“This day marks the achievement of more than a decade of preparatory work and international negotiations in which the EU has played a key role,” he emphasised.
“It is also (…) a key element in achieving the objective we set ourselves at COP15, mainly to protect 30% of the oceans”, added the European commissioner responsible for oceans and fisheries.
Oceans are weakening
The high seas begin where the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the States end, a maximum of 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coasts and, therefore, are not under the jurisdiction of any country.
Although it represents more than 60% of the oceans and almost half of the planet, the high seas have long been ignored in the environmental fight, to the benefit of coastal areas and some emblematic species.
With the progress of science, the importance of protecting these seas, full of an often microscopic biodiversity, which also provides half of the oxygen we breathe and limits global warming by absorbing an important part of the CO2 emitted by human activities, has been proven.
But the oceans are weakening, victims of these emissions (warming, water acidification, etc.), pollution of all kinds and overfishing. As a result, the new treaty, when it enters into force after being formally adopted, signed and then ratified by a sufficient number of countries, will create marine protected areas in these international waters.
Only about 1% of the high seas is subject to conservation measures, and this emblematic tool is considered essential if we intend to protect 30% of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030, as all governments in the world committed themselves to at the COP15 on Biodiversity, in Montreal , last December.
“Protected areas on the high seas can play a vital role in building resilience to the effects of climate change,” said Liz Karan, of the NGO Pew Charitable Trusts, who called the agreement “an important achievement”.
Environmental impact
The treaty on “the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas outside national jurisdiction” also introduces the obligation to carry out environmental impact assessments of proposed activities on the high seas.
Finally, a highly sensitive chapter crystallized tensions until the last minute, the principle of sharing the benefits of marine genetic resources collected on the high seas.
Developing countries that do not have the means to finance expensive expeditions and research have struggled not to be excluded from accessing marine genetic resources and from sharing the anticipated profits from the commercialization of these resources – which do not belong to anyone – whose pharmaceutical companies or companies of cosmetics expect to obtain miracle molecules.
As in other international forums, mainly those for climate negotiations, the debate ended up being reduced to a question of North-South equity, commented observers.
North and South
With an announcement seen as a North-South confidence-building gesture, the European Union pledged €40 million in New York to facilitate ratification of the treaty and its initial implementation.
In addition, the bloc committed to dedicating more than €800 million to the protection of the oceans in general in 2023 during the “Our Ocean” conference that ended Friday in Panama.
Panamanian Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney announced that, in all, “341 new commitments”, totaling around $20 billion – including nearly $6 billion from the United States – were pledged during this conference to protect the seas. .
(With information from AFP)