High Seas Treaty a landmark ecological victory

A historic agreement has been reached by 100 United Nations member-states about protecting 30 per cent of the high seas by 2030, also known as 30 by 30. The high seas comprise 60 per cent of the oceans and half the surface of the planet. The legal framework to protect the high seas, the most neglected aspect of international treaties because most countries are focused on their territorial claims over 200 nautical miles or 370 kilometres, called exclusive economic zones. Nation-states have rights to the fish and other marine life, apart from under-the-sea mines in the demarcated area which is considered national territory. Until Saturday, only one per cent of the high seas was protected. Environmentalists believe that this should greatly help in protecting the oceans which serve the purpose of a carbon sink because the seas absorb carbon emissions, and they also exude half the oxygen breathed by the nearly 8 billion human beings on the planet. The negotiations have been going on for 15 years, and the latest meeting to reach an agreement has been on in New York since February 20. It was a case of hard and protracted bargaining among the member states. “The ship has reached the shore,” claimed conference head Rena Lee at the successful conclusion of the meeting. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been quoted by his spokesperson as saying that the agreement is a “victory for multilateralism and for global efforts to counter the destructive trends facing ocean health, now and for generations to come.” The Intergovernment Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)’s draft agreement will come into force after it is ratified by member-states. The BBNJ is in continuation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

For a long time, the high seas have been a hunting ground for deep sea fishing but curbs had to be placed on whale hunting as the sea mammals faced extinction. It is now allowed under international supervision. But much of the high seas did not belong to any nation-state and no one bothered to protect the marine biodiversity and mineral wealth of the high seas. Environmentalists and ecologists had been arguing for the importance of marine biodiversity, and now climate scientists have shown that the preservation of the natural habitat of the high seas is an important factor in controlling carbon emissions and for maintaining the oxygen supply of the planet.

There would be plenty of disagreements about how the Treaty of the High Seas is to be implemented, but once the conference formally adopts the draft agreement, and the member-states get into the act of ratifying it, there will be work to do. People, whether nation-states, private corporations, and plain buccaneers, will have to be monitored and checked for their activities. This is sure to lead to disputes and conflicts, but it will now be in the open. The UN and the member-states will have to throw their weight behind the agreement and make it an effective instrument for protecting the oceans and its resources, as well as help reduce the carbon footprint. And also, the high seas cannot any more be treated as trash bins. Plastic and other waste material cannot be dumped into the high seas.

It is a good sign that many activist groups and scientists have recognised the crucial importance of the oceans, which occupy 70 per cent of the earth’s surface. And the scientists have shown conclusively how the oceans help maintain the ecological balance of the earth system and help human and other life to exist on the planet. The fight against climate change is a fight for the planet. The High Seas Treaty is an acknowledgment of the importance of three-quarters of the surface occupied by the oceans.