UN member states finally agreed on Saturday on the first international treaty to protect the high seas, intended to counter threats to ecosystems vital to humanity.
“The ship has reached shore,” conference president Rena Lee said.
After more than 15 years of discussions, including four years of formal negotiations, the third “last” session in New York was finally the right one, or almost.
Delegates finalized the text with content now frozen in substance, but it will be formally adopted at a later date after it has been vetted by legal services and translated to be available in the six official UN languages.
Despite everything, “this is a major step”, commented before the agreement Veronica Frank, of Greenpeace, stressing that care should however be taken that this process is not “a back door to reopen questions”.
The high seas begin where the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of the States end, at a maximum of 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coasts and are therefore not under the jurisdiction of any State.
Abundant oceans
Even if it represents more than 60% of the oceans and nearly half of the planet, it has long been ignored in the environmental fight, to the benefit of coastal areas and a few emblematic species.
With the progress of science, proof has been made of the importance of protecting these oceans, teeming with an often microscopic biodiversity, which also provides half of the oxygen we breathe and limits global warming by absorbing important part of CO2 emitted by human activities.
But the oceans are weakening, victims of these emissions (warming, acidification of the water, etc.), pollution of all kinds and overfishing.
So the new treaty, when it comes into force after it has been formally adopted, signed and then ratified by enough countries, will create marine protected areas in those international waters.
Only about 1% of the high seas is subject to conservation measures, and this emblematic tool is considered essential to hope to protect, by 2030, 30% of the land and oceans of the planet, as committed all the governments of the planet in December.
“Life on Earth depends on a healthy ocean. The new High Seas Treaty will be crucial to our common goal of protecting 30% of the oceans by 2030,” said Monica Medina, Oceans Officer at the US State Department.
The treaty on “the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction” also introduces the obligation to carry out environmental impact assessments of proposed activities on the high seas.
profit sharing
Finally, a highly sensitive chapter which crystallized tensions until the last minute, the principle of sharing the benefits of marine genetic resources collected on the high seas.
Developing countries that cannot afford very expensive expeditions and research have struggled not to be excluded from access to marine genetic resources and from sharing in the anticipated benefits of the commercialization of these resources — which belong to no one — from whom pharmaceutical or cosmetic companies hope to derive miracle molecules.
As in other international forums, notably the climate negotiations, the debate ended up boiling down to a question of North-South equity, commented observers.
With an announcement seen as a gesture to strengthen North-South confidence, the European Union pledged, in New York, 40 million euros to facilitate the ratification of the treaty and its initial implementation.
Beyond that, it pledged to devote more than 800 million euros to the protection of the oceans in general for 2023 during the “Our Ocean” conference which ended on Friday in Panama.
In total, Panamanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Janaina Tewaney announced that “341 new commitments”, amounting to nearly 20 billion dollars – including nearly 6 billion from the United States – had been made during this conference. to protect the seas.