The world’s first international treaty to protect the high seas is due to be adopted at the UN on Monday, a landmark environmental agreement designed to protect remote ecosystems vital to humanity.
“It will be a huge achievement, which we have already celebrated with the finalization of the text in March. But the adoption formalizes this and really sets the stage for the next steps”, Liz Karan, of the NGO Pew Charitable Trusts. , told AFP.
The landmark treaty will establish a legal framework to extend swathes of environmental protections to international waters, which make up more than 60% of the world’s oceans.
After more than 15 years of discussions, including four years of formal negotiations, UN member states finally agreed on the text of the treaty in March after a series of final and marathon talks.
The text, which has since been frozen, has been reviewed by UN lawyers and translators to ensure that it corresponds to the body’s six official languages.
“Healthy oceans, from coastal waters to the remote open ocean and deep seabed, are integral to human health, well-being and survival,” noted a group of scientists in the journal The Lancet.
Scientists have increasingly realized the importance of the oceans, which produce most of the oxygen we breathe, limit climate change by absorbing CO2, and harbor areas rich in biodiversity, often on the scale microscopic.
But with so many of the world’s oceans lying outside each country’s exclusive economic zones, and therefore outside the jurisdiction of a single state, ensuring the protection of the so-called “high seas” requires international cooperation.
– Marine reserves –
The result is that they have long been ignored in many environmental battles, with the spotlight on coastal areas and a few iconic species.
A key tool of the treaty will be the ability to create marine protected areas in international waters.
Currently, only about one percent of the high seas is protected by conservation measures.
The treaty is seen as crucial for countries protecting 30% of the world’s oceans and land by 2030, as agreed by world governments in a separate landmark agreement reached in Montreal in December.
If the treaty passes “then the race for ratification will begin” and the 30% target “will remain within reach”, said Chris Thorne of Greenpeace.
The treaty, officially known as the ‘Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction’ or BBNJ treaty, also introduces requirements for carrying out environmental impact assessments for proposed activities to be carried out in international waters.
These activities, while not listed in the text, would include everything from fishing and shipping to more controversial activities, like deep-sea mining or even geo-engineering programs aimed at combating global warming. .
The treaty also sets out principles for sharing the benefits of “marine genetic resources” (MGRs) collected through scientific research in international waters – a sticking point that nearly derailed last-minute negotiations in March.
Developing countries, which often don’t have the money to fund such expeditions, have fought for the right to benefit-sharing, hoping not to be left behind by what many see as a huge future market in commercialization. MGRs, in particular by pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies. in search of “miracle molecules”.
Once the text is adopted, it remains to be seen how many countries will decide to embark on it.
NGOs believe that the threshold of 60 ratifications required for its entry into force should be achievable since the High Ambition Coalition for the BBNJ – which lobbied for the treaty – has around 50 member countries, including those from the European Union, as well as Chile, Mexico, India and Japan.
But 60 is a far cry from the universal adoption — the UN has 193 member states — that ocean advocates are calling for.
“After adoption, rapid ratification and implementation is crucial!” said the High Seas Alliance on Twitter.
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