Until now there was no clear jurisdiction for waters located more than 200 nautical miles from the coast | “This is a historic day for conservation and a sign that in a divided world, protecting nature and people can trump geopolitics,” said a Greenpeace official.
The UN countries reached today an agreement to establish a treaty that protects the high seas, an instrument that has been negotiated for years and that experts and environmental organizations consider vital to save the oceans.
Consensus came after a marathon round of negotiations that started on February 20 and that it was scheduled to close for this Friday, but that it continued throughout the night and on Saturday, with more than 35 hours of discussions, to iron out the latest differences.
Among other things, the text lays the foundations for the establishment of marine protected areaswhich should make it easier to fulfill the international promise to safeguard at least 30% of the oceans by the year 2030.
“The ship has reached the coast,” announced the president of the negotiations, an exhausted Rena Lee, to confirm that there was finally a consensus on the document, news received with a standing ovation by the delegations gathered at the United Nations headquarters.
The formal adoption of the treaty, however, will have to wait a little longer.until a group of technicians guarantees the uniformity of the terms used in it and it is translated into the six official languages of the UN, as agreed today by the countries.
Some, including Russia, However, they left the door open to reopen any issue because they had not been able to review some points in detail due to the harsh conditions of the final hours of the negotiation and the fact that some of their experts had already left New York.
A historic pact
“This is a historic day for conservation and a sign that in a divided world, protecting nature and people can trump geopolitics“said Laura Meller, from the environmental group Greenpeace, in a first reaction.
Pollution, climate change and new technologies that open the door to mining at the bottom of the seas and more intensive fishing According to experts, they are the main threats to the high seas, which accounts for two thirds of the total oceans.
Despite its enormous importance for the planet, until now these waters located more than 200 nautical miles from the coast and that are shared by all countries have been managed under a series of agreements and international organizations without a clear jurisdiction, without much coordination and with inadequate regulations for their protection.
the new treaty will be established within the framework of the existing United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and seeks to “ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.”
complicated negotiations
Among the issues that could only be resolved at the last minute, he highlighted the North and South fracture on how to share the benefits of the seaespecially everything related to marine genetic resources -species that may provide patentable genes in the future, for example for use in medicine-.
The interests of some rich countries clashed on this issue.who are most able to take advantage of these advances, and those in the developing world, who fear being left out.
The environmental organizations, very present in the whole process, have put pressure on governments to close a solid and ambitious treatywhich they see as a unique opportunity to protect the oceans.
“Governments and civil society must now ensure that the agreement is adopted and enters into force quickly and that it be effectively implemented to safeguard biodiversity on the high seas,” Liz Karan, director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ oceans campaign, said in a statement.