The Arctic is heating up at a record rate, plastic pollution is “choking the seas,” fish stocks are being depleted, acidity rates are rising and ocean waters are warming and rising. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the world is facing an “ocean emergency,” and he’s hoping that after years of false starts, world leaders might finally agree on some rules aimed at averting disaster.
The U.N. kicked off an 11-day conference on Monday aimed at creating a new, legally-binding global treaty to govern use of the high seas. The ambition of the treaty is to reverse the current downward trend in biodiversity and protect marine life, while also guaranteeing safe access to international waters.
It has already been a long time coming.
Since 2017, when the U.N. first declared its ambition to hash out a treaty based on the 1982 U.N. Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), which established rules for ocean usage and sovereignty, organizers have convened five times.
The General Assembly has created a draft treaty, but despite the negotiators meetings over the last five years, there’s been no agreement. Now there’s a glimmer of hope. Here’s what you need to know about this international effort to preserve our world’s oceans for generations to come.
What would a High Seas Treaty do?
The “high seas” refers to international waters — sea space that doesn’t fall within any nation’s sovereign or extended maritime zone.
About two-thirds of the world’s water is considered high seas and, as of today, only about 1% of that area is covered by international agreements on fishing and other resource extraction.
The high seas treaty, if agreed, would create a new global body to enforce rules laid out to protect about 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
It would extend international law beyond countries’ territorial waters and exclusive economic zones (EEZs), which extend 200 miles from any nation’s coastline, t0 cover a major portion of the currently unprotected waters from threats such as overfishing and unchecked seafloor mining.