UN session on high seas biodiversity concludes without agreement

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
27 Aug 2022 08:14
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It will now be up to the UN General Assembly to reconvene the fifth session at a later date.

A school of fish swimming above a staghorn coral colony on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia (Reuters)

Two weeks of negotiations by UN member states ended Friday without a treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas, an agreement that would have addressed growing environmental and economic challenges.

Negotiators have yet to reach a legally binding text to address the plethora of issues confronting international waters – a zone that encompasses nearly half of the planet – after 15 years, including four previous formal sessions.

Conference chair Rena Lee said, “Although we did make excellent progress, we still do need a little bit more time to progress towards the finish line."

It will now be up to the UN General Assembly to reconvene the fifth session at a later date.

Many hoped that the session, which began on August 15 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, would be the final one and result in a final text on "the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction," or BBNJ for short.

"While it's disappointing that the treaty wasn't finalized during the past two weeks of negotiations, we remain encouraged by the progress that was made," said Liz Karan with the NGO Pew Charitable Trusts, urging a new session by the end of the year.

One of the most contentious issues in the text concerned the distribution of potential profits from the development of genetic resources in international waters, where pharmaceutical, chemical, and cosmetic companies hope to discover miracle drugs, products, or cures.

Such costly sea research is largely the domain of wealthy nations, but developing countries do not want to be excluded from potential windfall profits derived from marine resources that belong to no one.

Similar issues of equity arise in other international negotiations, such as those on climate change, where developing countries that suffer disproportionately from the effects of global warming have tried in vain to persuade wealthier countries to contribute to the costs of mitigating those effects.

The high seas begin at the edge of a nation's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which according to international law extends no further than 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from its coast, and are not governed by any state.

This category includes 60% of the world's oceans.

And, despite the fact that healthy marine ecosystems are critical to humanity's future, most notably in limiting global warming, only 1% of international waters are protected.

One of the key pillars of a future BBNJ treaty is the ability to create marine protected areas, which many countries hope will cover 30% of the Earth's ocean by 2030.

However, delegations continue to disagree on the process for creating these protected areas, as well as how to implement a requirement for environmental impact assessments prior to the new high-seas activity.