What Is UN High Seas Treaty? Historic Deal Finally In Place To Protect Marine Life In International Waters

Member states of the United Nations have finally agreed on the long-awaited 'High Seas Treaty' to legally protect the international waters and marine life within it.

UN agrees high seas treaty after over a decade-long negotiations

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High Seas Treaty: After almost two decades of negotiations, members of the United Nations have finally reached a consensus to legally protect and save the international waters of the high seas and the marine life it contains. The development, following a mammoth final round of discussion lasting 38 hours, concluded the talks that began in 2004. The discussion had been underway for around a period of two weeks in New York.

UN chief Antonio Guterres congratulated the member nations for reaching an agreement for the landmark cause. However, the final text to be adopted will take some time.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the ship has reached the shore," conference President Reena Lee announced on Saturday, which was followed by an extended standing ovation in the meeting room. The delegations will now reconvene at a later date to formally adopt the final text.    

Despite covering over 60 per cent of the world's oceans and nearly half of the Earth's surface, the high seas have historically received less focus compared to coastal waters and a few prominent species.

The long-awaited treaty concerns the safety and management of 30 per cent of Earth’s waters, which has so far been open to all nations. Here is a look at the treaty, its significance and why it was needed.
 
What Are High Seas?

Around two-thirds of the world's oceans are currently considered international waters, which means that all countries have a right to fish, ship and research here. It amounts to around 60 per cent of the world’s oceans, but only about 1 per cent of it has been protected.

Now, with easy approachability and the least legal protection, the waters of high seas have been subjected to immense exploitation due to overfishing, pollution, mineral mining and much more.

This ultimately affects the vast majority of marine life making them vulnerable at a time when climate change in itself is causing so much damage to the environment as a whole.

What Is The High Seas Treaty & Why Is It Required?

The agreement of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) is what is being called the High Seas Treaty. It is essentially a pact to save the treasures of water and the precious life it sustains inside it.  

The agreement envisages placing 30 per cent of the world's international waters into protected areas (MPAs) by 2030. According to the United Nations, the treaty is a "legal framework that would place 30 per cent of the world’s oceans into protected areas, put more money into marine conservation, and cover access to and use of marine genetic resources”.

Since the high seas concern a large number of member nations, the resolution remained difficult for decades. It finally reached a conclusion on Saturday.

The treaty is also a crucial step towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and a ‘30x30’ pledge to protect a third of the world's biodiversity – on land and sea – by 2030. The agenda was decided this past December at a historic UN conference in Montreal.

The UN chief said through his spokesperson: "It is also vital for achieving ocean-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework."

Quoting Dr Simon Walmsley, marine chief advisor of WWF-UK, a BBC report said: "There was debate, particularly around what a marine protected area is. Is it sustainable use or fully protected?" 

There were many grounds that went under the scanner by the countries like restrictions on how much fishing can take place, the routes of shipping lanes and exploration activities like deep sea mining, among others. The pact also addresses the arrangement for sharing marine genetic resources, reported BBC. This means the usage of biological material from international waters for the benefit of society, such as pharmaceuticals and food. It will now lead to an established process for deep-sea activities like mining.

The high seas treaty has also been an important matter pertaining to the North-South divide between poor and rich. Those who had resources have always been at an advantage from the activities on the high seas. However, with legal protection coming to the fore, developing nations fear exclusion from a windfall from the commercialisation of activities in international waters.

In a move to reduce this doubt and further the trust between rich and poor countries, the European Union pledged 40 million euros ($42 million) in New York to facilitate the ratification and early implementation of the treaty, AFP reported. The EU also announced $860 million for research, monitoring and conservation of oceans in 2023 at the Our Ocean conference in Panama that ended on Friday. 
According to the AFP report, Panama announced that countries have pledged a total of $19 billion.

Notably, in 2017, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution urging nations to create a treaty for the high seas.

What Happens Now?

It is vital to note that a sensitive part of sharing potential profits of new discoveries on the high seas was also discussed thoroughly before the agreement was finalised. However, the legal agreement will take some more time. 

The agreement will now first be formally adopted at a later session. Then it is required to be legally passed in the member countries to legally be into force.  

"There is a real delicate balance, if you don't have enough states it won't enter into force. But also need to get the states with enough money to get the impact. We are thinking around 40 states to get the whole thing into force," AFP quoted an expert as saying.

Russia was among the countries that registered concerns over the final text, according to the AFP report.

Following the adoption and passing of the legal text, the countries will have to start looking at the practical application of these measures and their effective management throughout.  
 
Expectations From High Seas Treaty   

The newly established treaty will permit the establishment of marine protected areas within international waters. This will build resilience from climate change, protect marine life, and will also oblige countries to conduct environmental impact assessments of proposed activities on the high seas.