Knowledge nugget of the day: High Seas Treaty

Why successful the news?

India signed an important planetary statement called the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, oregon the High Seas Treaty astatine the United Nations General Assembly successful New York connected September 25, 2024. So far, 105 countries person signed the pact which is ratified by 14 countries. The High Seas pact would travel into unit 120 days aft astatine slightest 60 countries taxable their ceremonial ratification documents.

Key Takeaways:

1. The precocious seas comprise 64 percent of the water aboveground and astir 43 percent of the Earth. These areas are location to astir 2.2 cardinal marine taxon and up to a trillion antithetic kinds of microorganisms. They beryllium to nary one, and everyone enjoys adjacent rights for navigation, overflight, economical activities, technological research, and the laying of infrastructure similar undersea cables.

2. As precocious seas are nary one’s work this has led to the overexploitation of resources, biodiversity loss, pollution, including dumping of plastics, water acidification, and galore different problems. According to UN estimates, astir 17 cardinal tonnes of plastics were dumped successful the oceans successful 2021, and this was lone expected to summation successful the coming years.

3. The treaty, which was concluded successful March 2023, deals lone with oceans that are extracurricular the nationalist jurisdiction of immoderate country. Typically, nationalist jurisdictions widen up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coastline, an country that is called an exclusive economical portion oregon EEZ. Areas extracurricular of EEZs of each state are known arsenic precocious seas oregon planetary waters. That’s wherefore the statement is formally called the Agreement connected Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction.

4. The High Seas Treaty has 4 main objectives:

➤ Demarcation of marine protected areas (MPAs), alternatively similar determination are protected forests oregon wildlife areas;

➤ Sustainable usage of marine familial resources and equitable sharing of benefits arising from them;

➤ Initiation of the signifier of biology interaction assessments for each large activities successful the oceans; and

➤ Capacity gathering and exertion transfer.

5. Marine-Protected Areas: MPAs are wherever water systems, including biodiversity, are nether stress, either owed to quality activities oregon clime change. These tin beryllium called the nationalist parks oregon wildlife reserves of the oceans. Activities successful these areas volition beryllium highly regulated, and conservation efforts akin to what happens successful wood oregon wildlife zones volition beryllium undertaken. Only astir 1.44 per cent of precocious seas are presently protected, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

6. Marine Genetic Resources: Oceans big precise divers beingness forms, galore of which tin beryllium utile for quality beings successful areas similar cause development. Genetic accusation from these organisms is already being extracted, and their benefits are being investigated. The pact seeks to guarantee that immoderate benefits arising retired of specified efforts, including monetary gains, are escaped from beardown intelligence spot rights controls, and are equitably shared amongst all. The cognition generated from specified expeditions is besides expected to stay openly accessible to all.

7. Environment Impact Assessments: The pact makes it mandatory to transportation retired a anterior biology interaction appraisal (EIA) for immoderate enactment that is perchance polluting oregon damaging to the marine ecosystems, oregon to conservation efforts. The EIAs request to beryllium made public. An EIA is to beryllium carried retired for activities wrong nationalist jurisdictions arsenic good if the impacts are expected successful the precocious sea.

8. Capacity gathering and exertion transfer: The pact lays a batch of accent connected this, chiefly due to the fact that a ample fig of countries, particularly tiny land states, and landlocked nations, bash not person the resources oregon the expertise to meaningfully enactment successful the conservation efforts, oregon to instrumentality benefits from the utile exploitation of marine resources. At the aforesaid time, the obligations enactment connected them by the Treaty, to transportation retired biology interaction assessments, for example, tin beryllium an further burden.

High seas areas are location to astir 2.2 cardinal marine taxon and up to a trillion antithetic kinds of microorganisms. (NOAA/Handout via Reuters)

Difference betwixt signing and ratification of a treaty

📍Ratification is the process by which a state agrees to beryllium legally bound to the provisions of an planetary law. This is abstracted from a specified signing connected to an planetary law. Signing indicates that a state agrees with the provisions of the planetary instrumentality concerned, and is consenting to abide by it. But till it ratifies it, the process for which varies from state to country, it is not legally bound to travel that law.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: UN Convention connected Laws of the Seas, oregon UNCLOS

1. UNCLOS is simply a broad planetary instrumentality that lays down the wide frameworks for morganatic behaviour on, and usage of, seas and oceans everywhere. It defines the rights and duties of nations regarding activities successful the oceans and besides addresses issues specified arsenic sovereignty, transition rights, and rights of exclusive economical usage. Demarcations of territorial waters and EEZs are a effect of UNCLOS.

2. The territorial oversea (TS) arsenic per UNCLOS, is an country extending up to 12 nautical miles from the basal of a country’s coastline. The difference betwixt EEZ and TS is that a authorities has afloat sovereignty implicit the waters encompassed wrong the TS, whereas with respect to the EEZ, the authorities simply has exclusive sovereign economical rights to substances lying beneath the aboveground of the sea.

3. UNCLOS sets the wide principles for equitable entree and usage of water resources, and extortion and conservation of biodiversity and marine ecology. But it doesn’t specify however these objectives person to beryllium achieved. This is wherever the High Seas Treaty comes in. The High Seas Treaty volition enactment arsenic an implementation agreement nether the UNCLOS, overmuch similar the Paris Agreement works nether the UN Framework Convention connected Climate Change (UNFCCC).

(Source: India to ratify High Seas Treaty, Protecting ‘two-thirds of the world’s oceans’, Key provisions, and the challenges it faces)

For your queries and suggestions constitute astatine khushboo.kumari@indianexpress.com

Subscribe to our UPSC newsletter. Stay updated with the latest UPSC articles by joining our Telegram transmission – IndianExpress UPSC Hub, and travel america on Instagram and X.