United Nations members reach accord to protect marine life on high seas

For the first time, members of the United Nations have agreed on a unified agreement to protect biodiversity in the high seas – nearly half of the planet’s surface – concluding two weeks of talks in New York.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea came into force in 1994, before marine biodiversity was an established concept.

An updated framework to protect marine life in areas beyond national territorial waters, known as the high seas, has been discussed for more than 20 years, but previous efforts to reach agreement have repeatedly stalled. The unification agreement was reached on Saturday.

“We only have two major global commons – the atmosphere and the ocean,” said Georgetown University marine biologist Rebecca Helm. While the oceans can be fascinating, “protecting this half of the Earth’s surface is critical to the health of our planet.”

‘Major win’

Now that the text of the long-awaited agreement has been finalized, Nichola Clark, an ocean expert at the Pew Charitable Trusts who observed the talks in New York, said, “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect the oceans – a major win for biodiversity.”

The agreement will create a new body to manage the conservation of marine life and establish marine protected areas on the high seas. And Clark said it was critical to meet the UN Conference on Biological Diversity pledge to protect 30 percent of the planet’s water, as well as its land, for conservation.

The agreement also establishes basic rules for conducting environmental impact assessments for commercial activities at sea.

“It means that all activities planned for the high seas must be reviewed, even if not all will be fully implemented,” said Jessica Battle, an ocean governance expert at the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

Many marine species – including dolphins, whales, sea turtles and many fish – make long annual migrations, crossing national borders and the high seas. Efforts to protect them – and human communities dependent on fishing or marine life-related tourism – have previously been hampered by confusing legislation.

“This agreement will help bring together different regional agreements to address threats and concerns across species,” Battle said.

‘The ocean is not an infinite resource’

Such protection also helps biodiversity and the coastal economy, said Gladys Martínez de Lemos, executive director of the non-profit Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense that focuses on environmental issues in Latin America.

“The government has taken important steps that strengthen the legal protection of two-thirds of the sea and with marine biodiversity and the livelihoods of coastal communities,” he said.

The question now is how the ambitious agreement will be implemented.

The high seas have long been subject to exploitation due to commercial fishing and mining, as well as pollution from chemicals and plastics. The new agreement is about “recognizing that the oceans are not an infinite resource, and that we need global cooperation to use the oceans sustainably,” said Malin Pinsky, a biologist at Rutgers University.