UN High Seas Treaty as a First Step to Protect the Sea

The countries of the United Nations agreed to protect the world’s oceans for the first time after more than a decade of negotiations. The UN High Seas Treaty places 30% of the world’s oceans in a secured area. Environmental groups claim it will help in stopping biodiversity loss and guarantee sustainable growth. 

In the current assessment of marine species, almost 10% were found to be at risk of extinction according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). As said by Dr. Ngozi Oguguah, the chief research officer at Nigerian Institute For Oceanography and Marine Research, two biggest things that affect extinction are overfishing and pollution, and to help overcome this problem marine protected sanctuaries will be needed so that marine resources will have time to recover.  

The IUCN speculate that climate change affected 41% of the threatened species. Minna Epps, the head of IUCN’s ocean team said that more than 25% of carbon dioxide emissions are being absorbed by the ocean, that’s why the ocean is becoming more acidic which affects its productivity and threatens certain species and ecosystems. Marine heat waves have also increased 20 times due to climate change which can cause extreme events such as mass deaths and cyclones, this is based on research published in Science magazine.

Ms Epps also added that to overcome climate change at sea, other global agreements such as the Paris Agreement were also implemented. According to her, this is a form of implementing synergy and collaboration between various multilateral agreements in the UN convention on climate change. 

This agreement to protect the sea still requires long steps ahead before it is finally legally approved. This agreement to protect the sea still requires long steps ahead before it is finally legally approved. It must first be formally adopted at the next session, and then can enter into force when enough countries have registered and legally ratified it in their countries. Following that, nations must start considering how these policies would really be handled and implemented. 

source: BBC Climate