Asia Pacific > Palau sparks marine protection optimism with high seas treaty ratification

Palau sparks marine protection optimism with high seas treaty ratification

Published 01:48 on January 23, 2024  /  Last updated at 17:10 on January 23, 2024  /  Asia Pacific, Biodiversity, International, Other APAC

The Pacific Island nation of Palau has ratified the UN’s Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions (BBNJ) treaty, sparking optimism that sufficient momentum can build for the treaty to enter into force, making it possible for the global community to protect vast tracts of the world’s oceans.

The Pacific Island nation of Palau has ratified the UN’s Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions (BBNJ) treaty, injecting some optimism that sufficient momentum can build for the treaty to enter into force, making it possible for the global community to protect vast tracts of the world’s oceans.

Chile last week announced it had become the first nation to ratify the 2023 agreement, though an update on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) website on Monday showed that Palau had beat the South American country to the feat.

“We hope this inspires other countries to re-double their efforts to ratify the treaty without delay so that it can enter into force as soon as possible,” Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, said in a statement.

The BBNJ treaty must be ratified by 60 countries before it enters into force.

The hard-fought agreement from last year is considered a crucial step on the way for the world to meet its Global Biodiversity Framework target of protecting 30% of all oceans by 2030, as it puts in place provisions for how to regulate oceans where no single country has jurisdiction.

“This treaty essentially provides a clear pathway for countries to establish meaningful protections for the two-thirds of the ocean that is the high seas—especially through the legal framework for creating highly protected, cross-sector marine protected areas (MPAs) in these international waters,” Philadelphia-based the Pew Charitable Trusts said in a statement.

“The high seas – or ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction – cover nearly two-thirds of the world’s ocean, but only 1% of these waters are protected. Though they are far from shore, these marine areas are teeming with life and support diverse ecosystems that are critical to the health of the ocean, climate, planet, and people.”

MPA funding and enforcement is a challenge at many existing protected areas within national jurisdictions, which has led several initiatives to consider mechanisms to aid this work.

US-based non-profit Open Earth is developing a design for marine biodiversity credits as one potential solution.

“Given the specificities of ocean systems and their complexities, we need to build adequate financial mechanisms for the protection of marine ecosystems, as well as clear units for metrics to be standardised, measured and acted upon,” it said in a white paper last year.

Meanwhile, financial think tank Planet Tracker in September developed a blue recovery bond concept it said would help fund fisheries that reduce or completely stop fishing in designated areas while stocks recover.

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