05.03.2023
After more than 15 years of discussions, the United Nations countries finally reached a consensus to take care of a large area of the planet hitherto forgotten.
The countries of the HIM reached an agreement at dawn this Sunday (03.05.2023) to create the first international treaty for the protection of the high seas, an instrument that has been negotiated for years and that experts and environmental organizations consider vital to counteract the threats that weigh on vital ecosystems for the humanity.
The consensus came after a marathon round of negotiations that started on February 20 and was scheduled to close this Friday, but which continued throughout the night and on Saturday, with more than 35 hours of discussions, to iron out the latest differences. Among other things, the text lays the foundations for the establishment of marine protected areas.
“The ship has come ashore,” conference chairperson Rena Lee announced at the United Nations headquarters in New York to applause from delegates. To reach this moment, not only the last 35 hours have passed, but more than 15 years of discussions, including four of formal conversations.
essential treatise
The treaty is considered essential to conserving 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030 as governments around the globe promised in an agreement signed in Montreal in December. Currently only 1 percent of the high seas is protected. The formal adoption of the treaty, however, will have to wait a little longer, until a group of technicians guarantees the uniformity of the terms used in it and it is translated into the six official languages of the UN.
The agreed text cannot be significantly altered, Lee told negotiators, even though Russia wanted to leave the door open for some adjustments. “There will be no reopening or substantial negotiations,” said the president of the meeting. The high seas begin where the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the States end, at a maximum of 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coast, so it is not under the jurisdiction of any country.
For this reason, and despite its enormous importance for the planet, the high seas have been managed by a series of international agreements and organizations without clear jurisdiction, without much coordination and with inadequate regulations for its protection.
DZC (EFE, AFP)