The historic treaty to protect the high seas finally casts off

June 19, 2023

UN member states on Monday adopted the first international treaty to protect the high seas, a “historic” agreement to counter threats to the ocean and its good health, which is also vital for humanity.

“The ocean is the lifeblood of our planet. Today you have breathed new life and new hope into giving the ocean a fighting chance,” commented UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. . hailing a “historic success”.

“Every state must now ratify it as soon as possible so that it enters into force and that we can protect our ocean, strengthen our resilience to climate change and safeguard the lives and livelihoods of billions of people?” said Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance NGO coalition.

In March, after more than 15 years of discussions, including four years of formal negotiations, member states finally managed to agree, freezing the text in substance before it was vetted by the legal services and adopted on Monday by consensus.

While marine ecosystems are threatened by climate change, pollution and overfishing, science has proven the importance of protecting this entire ocean, teeming with often microscopic biodiversity, which provides half of the oxygen we breathe. and limits global warming by absorbing a significant part of the CO2 emitted by human activities.

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.

Even though it represents almost half of the planet and more than 60% of the oceans, it has long been ignored in the environmental fight, in favor of coastal areas and a few emblematic species.

Flagship tool of the new treaty: the creation of marine protected areas in these international waters.

Today, only about 1% of the high seas is subject to conservation measures.

But in December in Montreal, all the States of the planet committed at the COP15 on biodiversity to protect, by 2030, 30% of the land and oceans of the planet.

With this new treaty, “we are giving ourselves the means to achieve the COP 15 objectives of protecting 30% of the seas and oceans by 2030”, welcomed the French Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville, calling for a “sprint” towards ratification to make possible entry into force by the next UN conference on the oceans in Nice in June 2025.

The new treaty on “the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction” also introduces the obligation to carry out environmental impact assessments of proposed activities on the high seas.

The text does not list them, but it could range from fishing to transport, through potential controversial activities such as underwater mining or geoengineering aimed at limiting warming.

The treaty also establishes the principle of sharing the benefits of marine genetic resources collected from the high seas.

Developing countries which do not have the means to finance very expensive expeditions and research have fought to obtain the principle of an “equitable” sharing of marine genetic resources, whether it be access to scientific data or a share anticipated benefits from the commercialization of these resources, from which pharmaceutical or cosmetic companies hope to derive miracle molecules.

The text will be opened for signature on September 20, when dozens of heads of state and government will be in New York for the UN General Assembly. It remains to be seen how many countries will decide to board.

Unsurprisingly, Russia took its “distances” from the treaty as soon as it was adopted, judging certain elements of the text “totally unacceptable”.

NGOs believe, however, that the threshold of 60 ratifications to enter into force should not be too difficult to reach, the Coalition for a high ambition of this treaty, led by the EU, already counting around 50 countries, including Japan, the Chile, India or Mexico.

But 60 is a far cry from the universality advocated by ocean advocates who hope the political momentum around adoption won’t wane.

“As States and as humanity, we see the urgency (…) of the application of this agreement without delay”, underlined the Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs Alberto Van Klaveren, who proposed to to host the treaty secretariat in Valparaiso.