Spain has become on Tuesday the EU first country and the sixteenth of the whole world to ratify the Ocean global treaty that, once it enters into force, it will force governments to International Waters Beyond the 200 miles of the waters on which each one has jurisdiction to preserve biodiversity, regulate activities such as underwater mining and others that produce “overexploitation“Resources or even prohibiting all human activity in the so -called “Marine sanctuaries that also contemplates delimiting.
At the same time that Spain made the ratification of the UN Headquarters official in New York, the third vice president and minister for the ecological transition, Sara Aagesenappeared in Madrid with those responsible in Spain of Greenpeace and of Wwf To celebrate “Very good news“, The sum of Spain to a list of 16 countries in the world that have already ratified an agreement that still needs another 44 – until a minimum of 60- to enter into force.
Although there are four other countries whose parliaments have given the green light to the treaty –France, Slovenia, Lithuania and Romania-, also the rest of EU countries also advance to show “their firm commitment With the conservation of the oceans “and with the expectation of being” tractor “so that other countries follow him, both in the EU and outside of it. Therefore, Aagesen has taken the opportunity to launch a call” for that join as soon as possible“And the treaty enters into force as soon as possible.
Before Spain, they had ratified it countries that are mostly islands, in many cases seriously threatened for sea level growth as a consequence of climate change, and with a level of lower economic development To Spanish -Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Chile, Cuba, Maldivas, Mauricio, Micronesia, Monaco, Palau, Panama, Seychelles, Singapore, St. Lucia, Timor-Stert-. On the contrary, environmental sources ruled out on Tuesday that the agreement will be ratified by USA.
Water protection “of all but nobody”
When this happens, the international community will have endowed with a “legally binding global instrument” to protect biodiversity on the high seasbeyond the waters of each country, between the distance from its coast to 200 miles beyond. They are “those international waters we are protecting only 1% of that international waters that They are from everyone and they are not from anyone“And that occupy three quarters of the oceans and half of the surface of the earth.
As said the general director of WWF Spain, Juan Carlos del Olmo“We live from the sea” and “We have turned the oceans into a dump. It happens within the waters of our countries, what will not be happening in the waters beyond 200 miles, the ‘Far West’ where there is no control and at this time it is difficult to know what happens. ”
“It is an important chip change. If it comes into force, We go to global governance with protection In the center instead of, for example, based on exploitation or mining, “said Greenpeace executive director, Greenpeace, Eva Saldaña.
Although, once it eventually ratifies – perhaps in September, Spain expects – there will still be many regulations to agree, the objective of this treaty is that the 30% of the high seas surface is protected before 2030, regulating human activitiesdesignating protected marine areas or establishing a mechanism to share the benefits derived from the exploitation of marine genetic resources.
Ultimately, the creation of “Marine sanctuaries where any human activity is excluded, as in the Sargasso Sea In the North Atlantic or the Sea of Tasmania In the South Pacific, according to the candidates who, “to start,” Greenpeace Baraja.
In line with the International Treaty, Aagesen has indicated that it is expected that Spain has protected 25% of its maritime space Already this year before reaching the objective of 30% in 2030 and, on the obligations to which this global agreement will force Spain, it has indicated some as the obligation to do Environmental Impact Evaluations in International Watersbeyond the limit of 200 miles.
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