"It's a historic moment," Minna Epps, ocean team director of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, told AFP. But "it's appalling that it took so long."
The landmark treaty would establish a legal framework to extend swathes of environmental protections to international waters, which make up more than 60 percent of the world's oceans.
Following four years of official negotiations, UN member states finally agreed on the text for the treaty in March after a flurry of final, marathon talks.
Since then, the text has been pored over by the UN's lawyers and translators to make sure it matches in the body's six official languages.
But the journey won't be over Monday. After the UN adopts the treaty, it will need to be ratified by at least 60 member states to go into effect.
"Humanity counts on the ocean. But can the ocean count on us?" UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked on Twitter recently, calling for more maritime protections.
Scientists have increasingly come to realize the importance of oceans, which produce most of the oxygen we breathe, limit climate change by absorbing CO2, and host rich areas of biodiversity, often at the microscopic level.
But with so much of the world's oceans lying outside of individual countries' exclusive economic zones, and thus the jurisdiction of any single state, providing protection for the so-called "high seas" requires international cooperation.
The result is that they've been long ignored in many environmental fights, as the spotlight has been on coastal areas.
- Marine reserves and impact studies -
A key tool in the treaty will be the ability to create protected marine areas in international waters.
Currently, about one percent of the high seas are protected by any sort of conservation measures.
That's a drop in the bucket for what's required to achieve goals to set aside for protection 30 percent of the world's oceans and lands by 2030, as agreed by world governments in a separate historic accord reached in Montreal in December.
Without the ratification of the high seas treaty, "we're not going to achieve 30x30. It's as simple as that," said Jessica Battle, an ocean policy expert with the World Wildlife Fund.
The treaty, officially known as the treaty on "Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction" or BBNJ, also introduces requirements to carry out environmental impact studies for proposed activities to be carried out in international waters.
Such activities, while not listed in the text of the treaty, would include anything from fishing and maritime transport to more controversial pursuits, like deep-sea mining or even geo-engineering programs aimed at fighting global warming.
The treaty also establishes principles for sharing the benefits of "marine genetic resources" (MGR) collected by scientific research in international waters -- a sticking point that almost derailed last-minute negotiations in March.
Developing countries, which often don't have the money to finance such expeditions, fought for benefit-sharing rights, hoping to not get left behind by what many see as a huge future market in the commercialization of MGR, especially by pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies searching for "miracle molecules."
After the text is adopted, observers think it won't be difficult to find 60 countries to ratify the agreement, putting it into force.
The High Ambition Coalition for the BBNJ, which pushed for the treaty, counts some 50 or so countries as members, including those of the European Union, as well as Chile, Mexico, India and Japan.
"What we are hopeful for is that once the treaty enters into force, other countries will, even if they weren't the first 60... want to become a part of this agreement in order to help shape the future direction of it," said Liz Karan, an ocean governance campaigner with Pew Charitable Trusts.
While the treaty is a big step forward in establishing the governance of international waters, plenty of questions remain, to be taken up by future BBNJ Conference of the Parties meetings.
What will the UN high seas treaty mean for protecting the ocean?
United Nations, United States (AFP) June 16, 2023 -
The world's first international treaty on the high seas, set to be adopted by the United Nations on Monday, contains landmark tools for the conservation and management of international waters.
International waters -- outside the jurisdiction of any single state -- cover more than 60 percent of the world's oceans.
Ocean ecosystems create half the oxygen humans breathe and limit global warming by absorbing much of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities.
Once adopted, the UN treaty will go into force 120 days after 60 countries have ratified it.
Here are the key points of the text approved in March. The final version to be voted on has not yet been published.
- Ocean under threat -
The treaty begins by recognizing "the need to address, in a coherent and cooperative manner, biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystems of the ocean."
These impacts include the warming of ocean waters along with their loss of oxygen, acidification, mounting plastics and other pollutants, as well as overfishing.
The text specifies that it will apply to waters beyond countries' exclusive economic zones, which extend to a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the coasts.
It also covers what is known as "the Area", shorthand for seabed and subsoil beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. The Area comprises just over half of the planet's seabed.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) will have to navigate the authority of other regional and global organizations.
Chief among these are regional fisheries bodies and the International Seabed Authority, which oversees permits for deep-sea mining exploration in some areas and may soon make the controversial move of allowing companies to mine beyond current test runs.
- Marine protected areas -
Currently, almost all protected marine areas (MPAs) are within national territorial waters.
The treaty, however, allows for these reserves to be created in the open ocean.
Most decisions would be taken by a consensus of the COP, but an MPA can be voted into existence with a three-quarters majority, to prevent deadlock caused by a single country.
One crucial shortcoming: the text does not say how these conservation measures will be monitored and enforced over remote swathes of the ocean -- a task that will fall to the COP.
Some experts say satellites could be used to spot infractions.
Individual countries are already responsible for certain activities on the high seas that they have jurisdiction over, such as those of ships flying their flags.
- Sharing the bounty? -
On the high seas, countries and entities under their jurisdiction will be allowed to collect animal, plant, or microbial matter whose genetic material might prove useful, even commercially.
Scientists, for example, have discovered molecules with the potential to treat cancer or other diseases in microbes scooped up in sediment, or produced by sponges or marine mollusks.
Benefits-sharing of those resources has been a key point of contention between wealthy and poorer nations.
The treaty establishes frameworks for the transfer of marine research technologies to developing countries and a strengthening of their research capacities, as well as open access to data.
But it's left to the COP to decide exactly how any monetary benefits will eventually be shared, with options including a system based on specific commercialized products, or more generalized payment systems.
- Environmental impact studies -
The treaty requires signatories to assess the environmental impacts of planned activities under their control on the high seas before they are authorized in instances when such activities may have more than a minor or transitory effect.
It also calls for countries to assess the potential impact on international waters of activities within national jurisdictions that may cause "substantial pollution" or harm the high sea marine environment.
Ultimately, states are responsible for giving the green light to any potentially harmful activity -- a role NGOs hoped would go to the COP, to make controversial approvals more difficult.
The treaty also requires states to publish updates on an activity's environmental impacts. Approvals can be called into question if unanticipated impacts arise.
Though they are not specifically listed in the treaty, activities that could come under regulation include transport and fishing, as well as more controversial subjects such as deep-sea mining or even geo-engineering initiatives to mitigate global warming.
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