Brian Inganga/AP
WASHINGTON — For the primary time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to guard biodiversity within the excessive seas — practically half the planet’s floor — concluding two weeks of talks in New York.
The U.N. Conference on the Regulation of the Sea got here into power in 1994, earlier than marine biodiversity was a well-established idea.
An up to date framework to guard marine life within the areas exterior nationwide boundary waters, often known as the excessive seas, had been in discussions for greater than 20 years, however earlier efforts to achieve an settlement had repeatedly stalled. The unified settlement treaty was reached late Saturday.
“We solely actually have two main international commons — the environment and the oceans,” mentioned Georgetown marine biologist Rebecca Helm. Whereas the oceans could draw much less consideration, “defending this half of earth’s floor is completely important to the well being of our planet.”
Now that long-awaited treaty textual content has been finalized, Nichola Clark, an oceans professional on the Pew Charitable Trusts who noticed the talks in New York, mentioned, “It is a as soon as in a technology alternative to guard the oceans — a significant win for biodiversity.”
The treaty will create a brand new physique to handle conservation of ocean life and set up marine protected areas within the excessive seas. And Clark mentioned that is important to attain the U.N. Biodiversity Convention’s latest pledge to guard 30% of the planet’s waters, in addition to its land, for conservation.
The treaty additionally establishes floor guidelines for conducting environmental affect assessments for industrial actions within the oceans.
“It means all actions deliberate for the excessive seas have to be checked out, although not all will undergo a full evaluation,” mentioned Jessica Battle, an oceans governance professional on the Worldwide Fund for Nature.
Many marine species — together with dolphins, whales, sea turtles and lots of fish — make lengthy annual migrations, crossing nationwide borders and the excessive seas. Efforts to guard them — and human communities that depend on fishing or tourism associated to marine life — have beforehand been hampered by a complicated patchwork of legal guidelines.
“This treaty will assist to knit collectively the totally different regional treaties to have the ability to deal with threats and considerations throughout species’ ranges,” mentioned Battle.
That safety additionally helps coastal biodiversity and economies, mentioned Gladys Martínez de Lemos, govt director of the nonprofit Interamerican Affiliation for Environmental Protection specializing in environmental points throughout Latin America.
“Governments have taken an necessary step that strengthens the authorized safety of two-thirds of the ocean and with it marine biodiversity and the livelihoods of coastal communities,” she mentioned.
The query now could be how nicely the bold treaty will probably be applied.
The excessive seas have lengthy suffered exploitation as a consequence of industrial fishing and mining, in addition to air pollution from chemical compounds and plastics. The brand new settlement is about “acknowledging that the ocean isn’t a limitless useful resource, and it requires international cooperation to make use of the ocean sustainably,” mentioned Malin Pinsky, a biologist at Rutgers College.