The UN agreement lays the foundations for the establishment of high seas zones, which should make it easier to fulfill the international promise to safeguard at least 30% of the oceans by the year 2030
The UN countries reached this Sunday, March 5, 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.
The consensus came after a marathon round of negotiations that began on February 20 and was scheduled to close last Friday, but which continued throughout the night and on Saturday, with more than 35 continuous hours of discussionsto iron out the last differences.
Among other things, the text lays the foundations for the establishment of marine protected areas, which should make it easier to fulfill the international promise to safeguard at least 30% of the oceans by the year 2030.
“The ship has come ashore,” conference chairperson Rena Lee announced at the United Nations headquarters in New York to applause from delegates. To reach this moment, not only the last 35 hours have passed, but more than 15 years of discussions, including four of formal conversations.
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 by the countries.
Some, including Russia, left the door open to reopen a matter because they had not been able to review some points in detail due to the harsh conditions in the final hours of the negotiations and the fact that some of their experts had already left New York. .
historical pact
“This is a historic day for conservation and a sign that in a divided world, protecting nature and people can trump geopolitics,” Laura Meller, of the environmental group, said in a first reaction. greenpeace.
Pollution, climate change and new technologies that open the door to mining at the bottom of the seas and more intensive fishing are, according to experts, 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 which are shared by all countries have been managed under a series of international agreements and organizations without clear jurisdiction, without much coordination and with inadequate standards 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 was the North and South divide over how to share the benefits of the sea, especially everything related to marine genetic resources —species that may provide patentable genes in the future, for example for use in medicine-.
On this issue, the interests of some rich countries, which are the ones with the greatest capacity to take advantage of these advances, and those of the developing world, which fears being excluded, clashed.
Environmental organizations, very present throughout the process, have pressured governments to close a solid and ambitious treaty, which they see as a unique opportunity to protect the oceans.
“Governments and civil society must now ensure that the agreement is adopted and entered into force quickly and that it is effectively implemented to safeguard biodiversity on the high seas,” Liz Karan, director of the Oceans Campaign at the United States, said in a statement. the Pew Charitable Trusts.
*Also read: “Our Ocean” Conference raised $6 billion to tackle marine pollution
With information from EFE
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