After years of discussion and debate, nations have agreed to a high seas treaty that protects marine biodiversity and monitors the high seas. It has been hailed by researchers as an important step for conservation that promotes international research collaboration without hindering science.
Christina Gerde, who studies marine environmental law at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, said: “This long-awaited treaty contains many important things we need to protect our oceans.”
The final text of the agreement was finalized by representatives of the United Nations Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions (BBNJ) at the end of a two-week conference in New York City. The final session, which lasted 38 hours without interruption, far exceeded expectations and he finished on March 4th. “It was excessive even by UN standards,” said Marcel Jaspers, a chemist who attended the meeting as an adviser to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and a marine biologist at the University of Aberdeen, UK. . “It was insane. The delegates were so tired.”
Each country has jurisdiction over a body of water that extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from its own coast. Beyond is the high seas, which make up about two-thirds of the Earth’s oceans and more than 70% of the Earth’s surface. Activities such as whaling, shipping and seabed mining are regulated in these waters through mechanisms such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. By and large, however, the high seas have long been considered the “Wild West” of the oceans, with few rules and regulations, especially regarding the protection of biodiversity.
Given the great importance of the high seas to marine life and global climate, it has long been recognized that a treaty is needed to fill these gaps. The idea was first put forward 20 years before him. In 2017, the United Nations decided to formally convene an intergovernmental conference to develop a treaty, but in the years that followed delegates failed to meet that goal. The nations finally succeeded on March 4th, but did not have time to formally adopt the treaty. It will be done at his specially convened BBNJ session in the near future.
ship at night
The treaty creates various groups, including science and technology bodies, to oversee regulation and respond to changing circumstances. It also emphasizes capacity building for research in low-income countries to ensure equitable access to science and benefits from marine discovery.
The issue of profit sharing from “Marine Genetic Resources” was the biggest sticking point in the negotiations. Marine organisms are considered to be a rich reservoir of these resources, including molecules of pharmaceutical use. However, not all countries have the capacity to harvest or study them, and representatives of developing countries want to curb “biopiracy” – wealthy countries encroaching on their territories. The treaty states that financial benefits from genetic resources should be “shared in a fair and equitable manner” and “conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity.” It is said to be used for A Profit Sharing Committee, established by the treaty and made up of 15 nominated experts, decides what is fair.
“As a Caribbean scientist, I am very happy with this aspect of the Convention,” said Judith Gobin, a marine ecologist at the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. “For too long, we’ve seen research ships pass by at night, robbing marine life.” Now, she says, “We’re really going to get involved.”
The agreement will allow scientists to add a “BBNJ standardized batch identifier” to genetic data and biological samples collected from marine organisms, clearing where those data are publicly available within one year of collection. I am requesting to notify Ringhouse. Identifiers are attached to patents or commercial product sales derived from original research. For researchers, “just add another number to the spreadsheet,” Jaspars said, adding that most of the logistical burden of profit-sharing goes to people developing commercial applications instead. I’m adding that it’s coming down.
The treaty also establishes a mechanism for creating Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on the high seas. This keeps countries pledged at the Biodiversity Summit in Montreal last year to protect her 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030. Gjerde, Senior High Seas Advisor to the IUCN Marine Team, says this will be important to avoid a stalemate. She points to the situation in the Southern Ocean, for example. For example, one or two countries have stalled progress in establishing MPAs over her five years.
For activities on the high seas that are expected to have substantive impacts, the Convention also requires an environmental impact assessment. Each country is responsible for reviewing these assessments and approving activities. Most science projects probably don’t need such an assessment, says her Cymie Payne, an environmental governance expert at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. But the assessment will provide a useful central source of information on marine activity, she added.
Some scientists fear the treaty could require new permits for research projects exploring the high seas, adding bureaucracy to research already hard to get off the ground. This did not materialize. Instead, research cruises need only publicly notify when and where they go, Jaspars says. This “gives researchers in low- and middle-income countries the opportunity to join the cruise,” he says.
Agreeing to the text of the treaty was an important step, but not the final one. “There are still major problems with the document, but it is a viable starting point for protecting 30% of the world’s oceans,” environmental group Greenpeace said in a statement. “Now the hard work of ratification and marine protection begins.”
This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on March 7, 2023.
