After a 36-hour marathon session to conclude negotiations in New York, UN member states on Saturday evening agreed to a treaty that will pave the way for protecting 30% of the world’s oceans.
“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,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement after the two-week talks finished in New York late Saturday local time.
“This is an important step to protect our oceans.”
The high seas treaty will provide the regulatory framework required for the world’s nations to protect almost a third of international waters that lie beyond national jurisdictions.
“Governments have taken an important step that strengthens the legal protection of two-thirds of the ocean and with it marine biodiversity, the livelihoods of coastal communities, and global food sovereignty,” said Gladys Martinez, executive director of Asociacion Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (AIDA), in a statement.
“The agreement sets out a path for establishing areas of high and full protection on the High Seas, as well as for the environmental assessment of projects and activities that may harm this vast area,” she added.
The treaty, which will fall under the 1982 UN International Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), has been a decade in the making, but even in the final session that has been ongoing since Feb. 20 negotiators had difficulties overcoming differences on issues such as a framework for marine genetic resources, the process for establishing protected areas, and how to carry out environmental impact assessments.
Singaporean conference president Rena Lee eventually managed to guide the talks to a conclusion, though at the time of writing the text of treaty has not yet been published, meaning it is unclear which compromises were made in the end.
However, a statement from Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the final deal included a commitment by developed countries to provide an additional 50% of their annual financial contributions under the agreement to fund capacity-building projects to help developing countries conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity, and to implement the treaty.
“The [BBNJ Agreement also commits states to share benefits from the use of marine genetic resources including by facilitating access to samples and data from scientific research into marine organisms of the areas beyond national jurisdiction to researchers from both developed and developing countries,” it said.
Rules around marine genetic resources had been difficult because developing countries feared that without an agreement securing that benefits from such resources will befall everybody, poor countries would be left behind.
TOWARDS 30X30
A set of rules for how to define and establish marine protected areas (MPAs) in international waters will make it possible for the global community to start moving towards the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework target of protecting 30% of land and sea by 2030.
“We can now finally move from talk to real change at sea. Countries must formally adopt the treaty and ratify it as quickly as possible to bring it into force, and then deliver the fully protected ocean sanctuaries our planet needs. The clock is still ticking to deliver 30×30. We have half a decade left, and we can’t be complacent,” said Laura Meller, an oceans campaigner with Greenpeace Nordic.
Currently, only some 1.2% of international waters are protected, with fears rising that shipping, ocean mining, and overfishing are wreaking havoc on marine biodiversity.
“High seas marine protected areas can play a critical role in building resilience to the impacts of climate change. Governments and civil society must now ensure that the agreement is adopted and rapidly enters into force and is effectively implemented to safeguard high seas biodiversity,” said Liz Karan, director of the ocean governance project of Pew Charitable Trusts.
The 55-member self-declared “high ambition coalition”, which includes the US, the EU, and China, were seen playing a crucial role in finding compromises at the talks, and observers say the world will now be looking to those nations to push forward the ratification process.
Fifteen European nations and the EU cooperate to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic through the OSPAR Commission, and the commission on Saturday offered its experience and knowledge in implementing the new treaty.
“The OSPAR Commission stands ready to support the implementation of this new UN agreement. It will continue working towards strengthened ocean conservation with other international and regional bodies to facilitate cooperation and coordination between legally competent authorities on area-based management to help implement the ecosystem approach in the North-East Atlantic region,” it said in a statement.
In the coming months and years, nations will set up a network of MPAs to protect crucial biodiversity hotspots, breeding grounds and other vital areas.
Meanwhile, organisations wishing to establish new projects in international waters will face stringent regulations to ensure that such projects are planned and implemented in a sustainable manner.
“This treaty will be the game-changer the ocean urgently needs. We particularly welcome the conservation focused elements, such as environmental impact assessments,” said Fabienne McLellan, managing director of OceanCare.
“EIAs are one of the most effective and important mechanisms to prevent, mitigate and manage harmful activities in cases where there is severe harm to marine life through, for instance, underwater noise pollution. While we advocated for more ambition in the EIA provisions, these requirements will nevertheless strengthen ocean conservation.”
By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com
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