After years of negotiations, the member states of the United Nations finally reached an agreement on an international agreement on the conservation of ocean biodiversity. The High Seas Agreement must protect international waters, about two-thirds of the ocean surface.
“The ship has reached shore,” announced conference president Rena Lee to loud applause at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Saturday evening local time. An internationally binding agreement to protect international waters, or ‘the high seas’, had been discussed for fifteen years, but the various countries had widely differing views and interests. For example, one of the points of contention was the distribution of potential profits from the exploitation of marine genetic resources.
Two-thirds of the oceans lie outside countries’ exclusive economic zones and belong to the high seas. They are largely areas outside national jurisdiction. While the good health of marine ecosystems is critical to life on Earth, only 1 percent are currently protected. The agreement should change that and is seen as essential to achieve the goal agreed in December to protect 30 percent of the world’s land and oceans by 2030.
During the discussions on the final text of the agreement in New York, the European Union pledged EUR 40 billion as a contribution to the further handling and implementation of the agreement.
Earlier this week, during the Our Ocean conference in Panama, the EU announced that it would invest 860 million dollars (more than 800 million euros) in research, monitoring and conservation of the oceans in 2023. According to Panama, a total of 19 billion dollars ( almost 18 million euros) committed to ocean conservation, of which 6 billion by the US.
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