Date: 10/03/2023

Relevance: GS-3: Environment; Climate Change; Marine Life.

Key Phrases: UN High Sea Treaty, United Nations Convention on Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS), Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Areas Beyond the limits of National Jurisdiction (ABNJ)

Reference:

• For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas, concluding two weeks of talks in New York.

Key Highlights:

• Treaty was negotiated under United Nations Convention on Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982 which governs countries’ rights regarding marine resources.
• An updated framework to protect marine life in the regions outside national boundary waters, known as the high seas, had been in discussions for more than 20 years.
• However, previous efforts to reach an agreement had repeatedly stalled.
• This unified agreement treaty applies to nearly half the planet's surface.

Salient Features of The Treaty

• The Treaty of High Seas, also known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Treaty, will create a new body to manage the conservation of ocean life and establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on high seas.
• The treaty also establishes ground rules for conducting environmental impact assessments for commercial activities in the oceans.
• It means all activities planned for the high seas need to be looked at, though not all will go through a full assessment.
• This treaty focuses on four main areas:
  • Conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in Areas Beyond the limits of National Jurisdiction (ABNJ), including marine genetic resources.
  • Area-based management tools, including marine protected areas (MPA).
  • Environmental impact assessments.
  • Capacity building and the transfer of marine technology.

Significance of The Treaty

• Provides Comprehensive Protection:
  • Protecting this half of earth’s surface is absolutely critical to the health of planet earth.
  • Comprehensive protection of endangered species and habitats is now possible on more than 40% of the Earth's surface.
• Water Conservation:
  • It is also a key tool to help deliver the recently agreed Kunming-Montreal target of at least 30 per cent protection of the world’s ocean by 2030 that was just agreed in December — the minimum level of protection scientists warn is necessary to ensure a healthy ocean.
• Better Coordination with Regional Treaties:
  • Several 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, along with human communities that rely on fishing or tourism related to marine life, have long proven difficult for international governing bodies.
  • This treaty will help to knit together the different regional treaties to be able to address threats and concerns across species' ranges.
• Improve Economic Value of Coastal Biodiversity:
  • That protection also helps coastal biodiversity and economies.
  • The treaty is crucial for addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

High Seas

• About
  • High seas, in maritime law, are all parts of the mass of saltwater surrounding the globe that are not part of the territorial sea or internal waters of a state.
  • It refers to marine areas (from the deep seabed to the airspace above) outside the 200 nautical mile limit of the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of coastal States (that is 370 km from the coast) and beyond the limits of States’ continental shelves.
  • These are areas of the ocean for which no one nation has sole responsibility for management.
  • All nations have the freedom to fish, ship, and conduct research there.
  • Marine areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) include the high seas (water column), the airspace above, and the deep seabed areas located beyond the limits of States’ continental shelves.
  • ABNJ represents nearly two-thirds of the surface of the world’s ocean and hosts a significant portion of our planet's biodiversity.

• Importance of High Seas and its Protection
  • The high seas are some of the most biologically productive in the world – teeming with plankton and home to ocean giants like predatory fish, whales, and sharks.
  • The seabed sequesters tremendous amounts of carbon and the ocean volume traps heat, slowing the effects of climate change on land and in the atmosphere dramatically.
  • Around 270,000 species have been described in the High Seas, and many more are yet-to-be-discovered. However, some species are already being pushed to extinction.
  • Only 1.44% of the High Seas is currently under protection.

Conclusion:

• The high seas have long suffered exploitation due to commercial fishing and mining, as well as pollution from chemicals and plastics.
• The new agreement is about “acknowledging that the ocean is not a limitless resource, and it requires global cooperation to use the ocean sustainably,
• Governments have taken an important step that strengthens the legal protection of two-thirds of the ocean and with it marine biodiversity and the livelihoods of coastal communities.
• Although this breakthrough is significant, there is still a long way to go in terms of implementation.

Source: The Hindu

Mains Question:

Q. Recently adopted UN High Seas Treaty is a victory for multilateralism and for global efforts to counter the destructive trends facing ocean health, now and for generations to come. Discuss. (250 Words).