UN members adopt first-ever treaty to protect marine life in the high seas

UNITED NATIONS — Members of the United Nations followed the first-ever treaty to protect marine life in the high seas on Monday, with the U.N.’s leader hailing the historical settlement as giving the ocean “a fighting chance.”

Delegates from the 193 member international locations burst into applause after which stood up in a sustained status ovation when Singapore’s ambassador on ocean problems, Rena Lee, who presided over the negotiations, banged her gavel after listening to no objections to the treaty’s approval.

The treaty to protect biodiversity in waters out of doors nationwide obstacles, referred to as the high seas, overlaying just about part of earth’s floor, were below dialogue for greater than two decades as efforts to succeed in an settlement had again and again stalled. But in March delegates to an intergovernmental convention established by way of the U.N. General Assembly in December 2017 agreed on a treaty.

The new treaty is below the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which got here into drive in 1994, earlier than marine biodiversity used to be a well-established thought. It might be opened for signatures on Sept. 20, all the way through the annual assembly of worldwide leaders at the General Assembly, and it is going to take impact as soon as it’s ratified by way of 60 international locations.

The treaty will create a brand new frame to set up conservation of ocean life and determine marine secure spaces in the high seas. It additionally establishes floor regulations for accomplishing environmental have an effect on exams for business actions in the oceans.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres advised delegates that the adoption of the treaty comes at a crucial time, with the oceans below danger on many fronts.

Climate trade is disrupting climate patterns and ocean currents, elevating sea temperatures, “and altering marine ecosystems and the species living there,” he mentioned, and marine biodiversity “is under attack from overfishing, over-exploitation and ocean acidification.”

“Over one-third of fish stocks are being harvested at unsustainable levels,” the U.N. leader mentioned. “And we are polluting our coastal waters with chemicals, plastics and human waste.”

Guterres mentioned the treaty is essential to cope with those threats and he instructed all international locations to spare no efforts to be sure that it’s signed and ratified once conceivable, stressing that “this is critical to addressing the threats facing the ocean.”