NEW YORK: The United Nations has adopted the first-ever international treaty to govern the high seas and protect remote ecosystems vital to humanity, after more than 15 years of discussions.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hailed as a “historic achievement” the pact that will establish a legal framework to extend environmental protections to international waters, known as the high seas, which cover more than 60 percent of the earth’s surface.
Climate change is disrupting weather patterns and ocean currents, raising sea temperatures, “and altering marine ecosystems and the species living there”, Guterres said, adding that 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 UN chief said. “And we are polluting our coastal waters with chemicals, plastics and human waste.”
Scientists have increasingly come to realise the importance of oceans, which produce most of the oxygen we breathe, limit climate change by absorbing CO2, and host rich areas of biodiversity, often at the microscopic level.
But with so much of the world’s oceans lying outside individual countries’ exclusive economic zones, and thus the jurisdiction of any single state, providing protection for the so-called “high seas” requires international cooperation. UN member states finally agreed on the text for the treaty in March, and Guterres urged all countries to spare no efforts to ensure that it is signed and ratified as soon as possible. –Agencies
