High Seas Treaty

UN member states, on March 4, 2023, reached a historic agreement, popularly known as the High Seas Treaty, to protect the world’s ocean. The agreement was signed after 10 years of protracted negotiations.

The agreement was reached by delegates of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). The BBNJ decision builds on the legacy of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The UNCLOS was signed in 1982.

What Are The High Seas?

• Two-thirds of the world’s oceans are currently considered international waters. That means all countries have a right to fish, ship and do research there. But until now only about 1% of these waters – known as “high seas” – have been protected.
• Marine life living in the vast majority of the high seas are being overexploited. Marine life in the high sea is facing threats from climate change, overfishing and shipping traffic.
• As per a study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 10% of marine species are at risk of extinction.
• The biggest causes of extinction are overfishing and pollution. Sharks, whales and abalone species – are some of the important marine species that are facing the threat of extinction. These resources are overexploited because of their high value as seafood and for drugs.
• The treaty will put the world’s international waters into protected areas (MPAs) – which will help achieve the global goal of 30% conservation by 2030 target. The goal was agreed by the UN members at the 2022 UN biodiversity conference.

Importance Of The Treaty

• Almost two-thirds of the planet’s surface is ocean and the seas make up 95% of the Earth’s total habitat by volume.
• Only 1% of the high seas has, up until now, been covered by any international law.
• Just 39% of the ocean falls under the national jurisdiction of individual countries.
• The ocean provides more than half the oxygen on the planet.
• Billions of people depend on the ocean for their livelihood across a range of ocean sectors from fishing and aquaculture to tourism, maritime transport and renewable energy.
• Ocean is also an important source for food and nutrition.
• The ocean is our most important carbon sink. It acts as a buffer against global warming and climate change and absorbs excess greenhouse gases.
• Since our ocean is the biggest absorber of carbon dioxide, it has become more acidic. This phenomenon known as ocean acidification makes the ocean inhabitable for many species.
• Climate change has also increased marine heat waves 20-fold. , according to research published in the magazine Science. This can lead to extreme events like cyclones but also mass mortality events.
• The ocean is being overexploited by developed countries with little regard for the requirements of the future generations.
• Once the ‘High Seas Treaty’ is ratified, marine conservation efforts are expected to get a big financial boost.
• The treaty will cover almost two-thirds of the ocean that lies outside national boundaries.
• It will also provide a legal framework for establishing vast marine protected areas (MPAs) to protect against the loss of wildlife.
• It will also aim to distribute the genetic resources of the high seas equally among developed and developing countries.
• As per the provision, the treaty will establish a conference of the parties (COP) that will meet periodically and enable member states to be held to account on issues such as governance and biodiversity.
• The High Ambition Coalition – which includes the EU, US, UK and China – played the most important role in brokering the deal.

High Seas Treaty: Key Points

• The High Sea Treaty, for the first time in history, will set rules to effectively manage and govern the ocean.
  The preamble of the treaty “recognises”:
• “The need to address, in a coherent and cooperative manner, biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystems of the ocean, due to, in particular, climate change impacts on marine ecosystems, such as warming and ocean deoxygenation, as well as ocean acidification, pollution, including plastic pollution and unsustainable use.”
• The new High Seas Treaty stipulates that environmental impact assessments must be completed before any new exploitation of marine resources in areas beyond national jurisdictions.
• It also features provisions to allow for the equitable sharing of knowledge, technologies and benefits from marine genetic resources.
• Once the treaty gets ratified, and becomes an international law, only such kind of activities in the high seas will be allowed that don’t violate the objectives. The treaty will set a limit to fishing activities and deep sea mining. There will also be a limit to shipping routes.
• If the treaty is adopted, it would mark the first time in history that a UN treaty’s preamble refers to plastic pollution.
• The treaty establishes seven mechanisms and bodies to take its work forward:. These are:

1. A Conference of the Parties (COP)
2. A secretariat
3. A clearing-house mechanism
4. A Scientific and Technical Body (STB)
5. An Implementation and Compliance Committee (ICC)
6. An access and benefit-sharing committee
7. A financial mechanism

Marine Genetic Resources: Fair and equitable benefit-sharing was mentioned twice in the preamble of the High Ocean Treaty. These resources are used in a wide range of products ranging from food supplements and cosmetics to life-saving medicines. MGR consists of the genetic material of deep-sea marine sponges, krill, corals, seaweeds and bacteria.

How High Seas Treaty Is Different From UNCLOS

• The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) came into force in 1994. It has been ratified by 167 countries, plus the EU, as parties.
• UNCLOS established the International Seabed Authority, which governs activities on the seafloor beyond national jurisdiction.
• However, areas beyond national jurisdiction have been grey areas, and proved difficult to be governed under UNCLOS and its implementation agreement.
• The high seas are the parts of the ocean that are outside of any nation’s “exclusive economic zone” (EEZ). EEZs extend 200 nautical miles (about 370km) from the shore.
• This 200 nautical-mile extent means that some parts of the ocean such as the Mediterranean do not fall outside of national jurisdiction at all.
• The South China Sea also faces long standing disputes between China and other Asian countries.
• The “freedom of the high seas” refers to the existing legal regime around the oceans, which is an open-access, free-for-all regime.