United Nations Announces New Treaty to Protect the World’s Oceans
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The United Nations has agreed on a new treaty that will dramatically increase legal protection for marine wildlife outside of national boundaries. The UN High Seas Treaty, which will put in place a process for establishing protection areas, is the culmination of over a decade of negotiations between diplomats from nearly two hundred countries.
The high seas in question here, also known as international waters, are the parts of the sea not under the control of any specific nation. This is roughly two-thirds of the world's ocean cover. Only 1% of these waters are currently protected, meaning the remaining areas are open for fishing, shipping and under-sea mining with little to no environmental oversight. The treaty that has now been established aims to meet the goal of protecting 30% of international waters by 2030 which was first agreed upon at the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference.
Negotiations to complete the deal came down to the wire as multiple meeting extensions were put in place with most delegates staying up for 36 hours straight to finalise the treaty. The exhausted president of the conference, Singaporean Diplomat Rena Lee, announced the agreement with the words “The ship has reached the shore,” receiving thunderous applause from all the delegates.
In addition to the increase in protected areas, the agreement also covers arrangements for the sharing of marine genetic resources (important in marine science research) and a requirement for more environmental evaluation of certain ocean activities including deep sea mining.
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