#Environment ■ What are the provisions of the High Seas Treat | UPSC Environment Ecology Agriculture Notes

#Environment

■ What are the provisions of the High Seas Treaty?

Recently, the UN adopted the Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) or the High Seas Treaty.

It became the third agreement to be approved under UNCLOS

● The Background:

The idea of protecting the marine environment emerged in 2002.

By 2008, the need for implementing an agreement was recognised

This led to the UNGA resolution in 2015 to form a Preparatory Committee to create the treaty.

The Committee recommended the holding of intergovernmental conferences (IGC) and after negotiations, the treaty was adopted in 2023.

The treaty’s objective is to implement international regulations to protect life in oceans beyond national jurisdiction through international cooperation.

● The High Seas Treaty:

The treaty aims to address critical issues such as the increasing sea surface temperatures, overexploitation of marine biodiversity, overfishing, coastal pollution, and unsustainable practices beyond national jurisdiction.

It aims to establish marine protected areas to protect oceans from human activities through a “three-quarterly majority vote,”

It mandates sharing of scientific information and monetary benefits through installing a “clear house mechanism.”

Through the mechanism, information on marine protected areas, marine genetic resources, and “area-based management tools” will be open to access for all parties.

This is done to bring transparency and boost cooperation.

The last pillar of the treaty is capacity building and marine technology.

The Scientific and Technical Body will play a significant role in environmental impact assessment.

It will be creating standards and guidelines for assessment procedures, and helping countries with less capacity in carrying out assessments.

This will facilitate the parties to trace future impacts, identify data gaps, and bring out research priorities.

● Reasons for the delay:

The marine genetic resources issue was the treaty’s most contended element due to the absence of a provision to monitor information sharing.

The use of the phrases “promote” or “ensure” in different parts of the treaty, especially with respect to the sharing of benefits from marine genetic resources, was heavily debated over.

There was prolonged negotiation over the adjacency issue too.

● Who opposed the treaty?

Many developed countries opposed the treaty as they stand by private entities which are at the forefront of advanced research and development in marine technology

Patents relating to marine genetic resources are held by a small group of private companies

Russia and China also are not in favour of the treaty.

Russia argues that the treaty does not balance conservation and sustainability.

SOURCE - THE HINDU