UN inks first ‘High Seas Treaty’ in a bid to protect ocean bodies of the world

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 The United Nations inked the first ‘High Seas Treaty ( BBNJ Treaty or Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty )’ in a bid to protect the ocean bodies of the world that lie outside the national boundaries and form almost two-thirds of the world's oceans.

The treaty is an outcome of a decade of talks on this environmental concern. The agreement was reached on Saturday evening, after 38 hours of talks, at UN headquarters in New York. The previous negotiations failed to conclude due to disagreements on funding and fishing rights. The last international agreement on ocean protection was signed 40 years ago in 1982 - the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. 

The UN High Seas Treaty now brings 30 percent of the world's oceans into the protected domain, puts more money into marine conservation and sets new rules for mining at sea.

Previously these water bodies were open for fishing, shipping and to conduct research and only about 1 percent of these waters also known as high seas were under protection which left the marine lives in these waters at high risk of exploitation from threats including climate change, overfishing and shipping traffic.

As per the red data book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), nearly 10 percent of marine species, were found to be at risk of extinction. Further, the IUCN estimates that 41 percent of the threatened species are also affected by climate change.

The High Seas Treaty now places 30 percent of the world's international waters into protected areas (MPAs) by 2030. The treaty aims to protect against potential impacts like deep sea mining. This is the process of collecting minerals from the ocean bed. The treaty amongst other things will put a restriction on how much fishing can be done on the high seas.

According to the International Seabed Authority that oversees licensing any future activity in the deep seabed will be subject to strict environmental regulations and oversight to ensure that they are carried out sustainably and responsibly.

The Agreement shall enter into force once 60 States will have ratified.

The BBNJ treaty addresses, among other things: 

  1. The conservation and sustainable use of marine BBNJ; 
  2. Marine genetic resources, including questions on benefit-sharing (MGR); 
  3. Area Based Management Tools (ABMT), including marine protected areas; 
  4. Environmental impact assessments (EIA); and 
  5. Capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology (CB&TMT). 

The new treaty will allow to establish large-scale marine protected areas on the high seas, which are also necessary to meet the global commitment of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Agreement concluded last December to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030. For the first time, the treaty will also require assessing the impact of economic activities on high seas biodiversity. Developing countries will be supported in their participation in and implementation of the new treaty by a strong capacity-building and marine technology transfer component, funded from a variety of public and private sources and by an equitable mechanism for sharing the potential benefits of marine genetic resources.

Treaty will establish a conference of the parties (Cop) that will meet periodically and enable member states to be held to account on issues such as governance and biodiversity.

Areas beyond national jurisdiction comprise 95% of the ocean and provide invaluable ecological, economic, social, cultural, scientific and food-security benefits to humanity. However, these areas are now vulnerable to growing threats, including the impacts of climate change, overexploitation of natural resources, and pollution from multiple sources.

With the purpose to protect and preserve the rich biodiversity in these areas, and following over a decade of preparatory work, the United Nations General Assembly agreed in December 2017 on the development of a new international agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction. 

Mindful of the need to enhance efforts, the European Union launched a High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction at the One Ocean Summit (Brest), on 11 February 2022, during the French Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Background to Treaty:

The high seas provide invaluable ecological, economic, social and food security benefits to humanity and are in need of urgent protection.

Areas beyond national jurisdiction cover nearly two-thirds of the world's ocean, comprising the high seas and the seabed beyond national jurisdiction. They contain marine resources and biodiversity and provide invaluable ecological, economic, social, cultural, scientific and food-security benefits to humanity. However, they are under mounting pressure from pollution (including noise), overexploitation, climate change and decreasing biodiversity.

Faced with these challenges and in view of future increasing demands for marine resources for food, medication, minerals and energy, among others, an overwhelming majority of states agreed on the need for this high seas treaty, which takes the form of a new Implementing Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to protect and sustainably use the resources of these areas. The Agreement will further implement existing principles in UNCLOS to achieve a more holistic management of activities carried out in the high seas. These principles include the duty to cooperate, to protect and preserve the marine environment and to undertake prior impact assessment of activities.

This Implementing Agreement is the third of its kind following specific agreements on seabed mining in 1994, and the management of straddling and highly migratory fish stocks in 1995. The new agreement would bring UNCLOS up to speed with the developments and challenges that have occurred since it was developed thirty years ago and would further support the achievement of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, in particular Sustainable Development Goal 14 (‘Life Below Water').

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