Countries hope to bring BBNJ or High Seas treaty into force by 2025; only 2 have ratified it so far
- March 10, 2024
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Countries hope to bring BBNJ or High Seas treaty into force by 2025; only 2 have ratified it so far
Subject: Environment
Section: Int conventions
Context:
- The Blue Leaders High-Level Event on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction was held in Belgium on March 7, 2024, aiming to encourage nations to ratify a new treaty focused on protecting the high seas from threats like pollution, climate change, and overfishing.
Treaty Details:
- The treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ Treaty) was agreed upon in March 2023 and formally adopted two months later.
- The treaty focuses on increasing protected marine areas, equitable sharing of profits from marine genetic resources, and establishing guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for ocean activities.
- Countries such as Belgium, Cape Verde, Greece, Monaco, Nigeria, Norway, and the UK participated in the event.
- To date, 88 countries have signed the treaty, with Chile and Palau being the only two to have ratified it.
- The treaty will officially come into force once 60 countries ratify it.
- Goals and Challenges:
- The treaty aims to address the lack of protection in the high seas, which constitute over two-thirds of the global ocean yet have only 1.44% designated as protected areas.
- It also aims to ensure fair distribution of benefits from marine genetic resources and to set protocols for environmental impact assessments of oceanic activities.
- Implementation and Future Efforts:
- After ratification, significant efforts will be required to operationalize the treaty, including establishing procedures, budgets, and deciding on the location for the Secretariat, with Belgium offering to host it in Brussels.
- Additionally, there is a push to protect at least 30% of marine life by 2030, a target that aligns with the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.”
- Effective conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity under the BBNJ Treaty will require strong scientific support.
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 belegallybindingin 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
India’s Stance and Global Concerns:
- India has not signed the treaty but expressed support for its implementation at the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration in September 2023.
- There are concerns about potential delays in ratification, reminiscent of the lengthy process for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas.
- However, there’s optimism due to strong political momentum and support for the treaty.
Source: DTE