UN: Member States agree on a legally binding High Seas Treaty

On 4 March 2023, United Nations (UN) delegates of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction reached agreement on a High Seas Treaty. The general objective of this landmark agreement is to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of ocean biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, through global coordination and effective implementation of the relevant provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The High Seas Treaty is the culmination of UN-facilitated talks that began in 2004 to address biodiversity loss and the degradation of ocean ecosystems due to climate change impacts, pollution, and the unsustainable use of marine resources. The high seas is one of the maritime zones recognized under international law, covering nearly half of the planet’s surface, 64% of the global ocean surface, and 95% of the Earth’s total habitat by volume. Despite the critical habitat and indispensable ecosystem services provided by the high seas, only 1.44% of this expanse is currently under protection.

Based on the principles of international environmental law, monitoring and transparency, and fair and equitable sharing of marine genetic resources, the Treaty seeks to protect, preserve, restore and maintain marine ecosystems through the establishment of a connected system of area-based management tools. These tools, which will be enforced through a newly established Conference of the Parties for this purpose, include marine protected areas, emergency measures in response to a natural phenomenon or human-caused disaster, and operationalisation of the UNCLOS environmental impact assessment (EIA) provisions to prevent significant adverse impacts. In relation to this EIA process, the Treaty imposes public consultation and impact reporting obligations through an open-access clearing-house mechanism. A Scientific and Technical Body shall be established to develop standards and guidelines to inform these processes.

Several stakeholders party to the negotiating process, as well as interested and affected observers, have highlighted the significant timing of this new multilateral instrument to implement the ocean-related objectives in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. This Global Biodiversity Framework sets out four long-term goals and 23 action-oriented global targets up to 2030, including the restoration of 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland water, coastal, and marine ecosystems by 2030, and the conservation of 30% of terrestrial, inland water, coastal, and marine areas by 2030, through connected area-based conservation measures.

In order to enter into force, the final text remains subject to formal adoption, which will reportedly take place at a later date, and ratification by 60 Member States of the UN. Although a party may, by written notification, denounce the High Seas Treaty, such an act would in no way affect its duties or obligations under customary international law.

• The unedited version of the agreement text is available here.
• More information on the importance of the high seas ecosystem for nature and humankind is available here.

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