UN High Seas Treaty

UN High Seas Treaty

Subject :Environment

Section : International convention

In the news:

• A new round of negotiations on the United Nations High Seas Treaty for conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) began in New York February 20, 2023.

Definition of High seas:

• The high seas are areas beyond the 200 nautical mile limit of the exclusive economic zones of coastal states.
• Why is it important?
  • Home to around 270,000 species, the high seas cover more than two-thirds of the global ocean.
  • Over 1,550 marine animals and plants face a risk of extinction, with climate change impacting at least 41 per cent of threatened marine species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature Only 1.44 per cent of the high seas are protected.

What is the BBNJ Treaty?

• The “BBNJ Treaty”,also known as the “Treaty of the High Seas”, is an international agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction,currently under negotiation at the United Nations.
• The treaty will belegally bindingin nature.
• This new instrument isbeing developed within the framework of the UNCLOS,the main international agreement governing human activities at sea.
• It will achieve a more holistic management of high seas activities, which should better balance the conservation and sustainable use of marine resources.
• BBNJ encompasses the high seas, beyond the exclusive economic zones or national waters of countries.
  • According to theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), these areas account for “almost half of the Earth’s surface”.
  • These areas arehardly regulated and also least understood or explored for its biodiversity – only 1% of these areas are under protection.
• An important element under the treaty: The benefit sharing of marine genetic resources (MGRs).
  • It includes marine plants, animals and microbes from areas beyond national jurisdiction.
  • The element aims to address the inequalities in sharing benefits from samples, basic and applied research results as well as monetary benefit sharing from MGRs.
• Launched at the One Ocean Summit in February 2022, the High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction brings together many delegations engaged in the BBNJ negotiations on a common and ambitious outcome at the highest political level.
• The negotiations are centred around a package of elements agreed upon in 2015, namely:
  • the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, in particular, together and as a whole, marine genetic resources, including questions on the sharing of benefits
  • area-based management tools, including marine protected areas
  • environmental impact assessments
  • capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology