After years of debates and negotiations, the countries that are part of the United Nations (UN) have adopted on Monday the first treaty for the protection of international waters, an agreement that will allow the establishment of marine reserves in that area of the ocean that is often unprotected. This pact, which environmental and scientific groups have been demanding for many years, had already been channeled in March, when, after a 36-hour meeting in New York, the agreement was reached. But the final adoption of the text was pending and this Monday it was carried out without the need for a vote, since it was adopted by consensus.
The treaty will allow the establishment of management instruments, including marine protected areas, “to conserve and sustainably manage vital habitats and species on the high seas” in international waters, the UN detailed in a statement on Monday. “These measures are essential” to be able to meet the goal that by 2030 30% of the planet’s terrestrial and marine surface is protected, as agreed in December at the biodiversity summit in Montreal. “You have breathed new life and given the ocean a chance,” said António Guterres, UN Secretary General, who applauded the agreement. “They have complied and they have done so at a critical moment,” he added about a pact that the UN has described as “historic.”
When speaking of the high seas or international waters, reference is made to the marine spaces that are not included in the exclusive economic zones of the countries, that is, those that go beyond 200 miles from the coast controlled by the States. They occupy most of the ocean (64%) and although there are regulations and sectoral entities to regulate some aspects, such as maritime traffic or fishing, there is no international instrument focused on the protection of marine biodiversity. Without a strong and ambitious treaty, it is practically impossible to meet the objective of protecting 30% of the oceans and land by 2030 (known as the 30×30 objective), which was what the countries committed to at the end of last year in the Biodiversity Summit in Montreal.
The pact adopted this Monday also lays the foundations for evaluating the “environmental impacts of human activities” in areas beyond national jurisdiction and taking them into account in decision-making. “It also provides, for the first time, an international legal framework for assessing the cumulative effects of activities and consequences of climate change, ocean acidification and related effects, in areas beyond national jurisdiction,” has added this Monday the UN after the adoption of the agreement.
In addition, the agreement sealed in New York seeks to establish a “framework for the fair and equitable distribution of benefits derived from activities related to marine genetic resources”, an aspect that is considered key for the future. The intent is to ensure that “those activities benefit all of humanity.”
To develop this pact, a conference of the parties and a scientific and technical body are created, which will meet periodically to study the establishment of marine protection zones in international waters, among other issues. The agreement will be open for signature at the United Nations headquarters in New York for two years starting on September 20, 2023. And it will enter into force after its ratification by at least 60 nations.
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