Knowledge nugget of the day: High Seas Treaty

Why in the news?

India signed an important international agreement called the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, or the High Seas Treaty at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2024. So far, 105 countries have signed the treaty which is ratified by 14 countries. The High Seas treaty would come into force 120 days after at least 60 countries submit their formal ratification documents.

Key Takeaways:

1. The high seas comprise 64 percent of the ocean surface and about 43 percent of the Earth. These areas are home to about 2.2 million marine species and up to a trillion different kinds of microorganisms. They belong to no one, and everyone enjoys equal rights for navigation, overflight, economic activities, scientific research, and the laying of infrastructure like undersea cables.

2. As high seas are no one’s responsibility this has led to the overexploitation of resources, biodiversity loss, pollution, including dumping of plastics, ocean acidification, and many other problems. According to UN estimates, about 17 million tonnes of plastics were dumped in the oceans in 2021, and this was only expected to increase in the coming years.

3. The treaty, which was concluded in March 2023, deals only with oceans that are outside the national jurisdiction of any country. Typically, national jurisdictions extend up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coastline, an area that is called an exclusive economic zone or EEZ. Areas outside of EEZs of every country are known as high seas or international waters. That’s why the agreement is formally called the Agreement on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction.

4. The High Seas Treaty has four main objectives:

➤ Demarcation of marine protected areas (MPAs), rather like there are protected forests or wildlife areas;

➤ Sustainable use of marine genetic resources and equitable sharing of benefits arising from them;

➤ Initiation of the practice of environmental impact assessments for all major activities in the oceans; and

➤ Capacity building and technology transfer.

5. Marine-Protected Areas: MPAs are where ocean systems, including biodiversity, are under stress, either due to human activities or climate change. These can be called the national parks or wildlife reserves of the oceans. Activities in these areas will be highly regulated, and conservation efforts similar to what happens in forest or wildlife zones will be undertaken. Only about 1.44 per cent of high seas are currently protected, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

6. Marine Genetic Resources: Oceans host very diverse life forms, many of which can be useful for human beings in areas like drug development. Genetic information from these organisms is already being extracted, and their benefits are being investigated. The treaty seeks to ensure that any benefits arising out of such efforts, including monetary gains, are free from strong intellectual property rights controls, and are equitably shared amongst all. The knowledge generated from such expeditions is also supposed to remain openly accessible to all.

7. Environment Impact Assessments: The treaty makes it mandatory to carry out a prior environmental impact assessment (EIA) for any activity that is potentially polluting or damaging to the marine ecosystems, or to conservation efforts. The EIAs need to be made public. An EIA is to be carried out for activities within national jurisdictions as well if the impacts are expected in the high sea.

8. Capacity building and technology transfer: The treaty lays a lot of emphasis on this, mainly because a large number of countries, especially small island states, and landlocked nations, do not have the resources or the expertise to meaningfully participate in the conservation efforts, or to take benefits from the useful exploitation of marine resources. At the same time, the obligations put on them by the Treaty, to carry out environmental impact assessments, for example, can be an additional burden.

High seas areas are home to about 2.2 million marine species and up to a trillion different kinds of microorganisms. (NOAA/Handout via Reuters)

BEYOND THE NUGGET: UN Convention on Laws of the Seas, or UNCLOS

1. UNCLOS is a comprehensive international law that lays down the broad frameworks for legitimate behaviour on, and use of, seas and oceans everywhere. It defines the rights and duties of nations regarding activities in the oceans and also addresses issues such as sovereignty, passage rights, and rights of exclusive economic usage. Demarcations of territorial waters and EEZs are a result of UNCLOS.

2. The territorial sea (TS) as per UNCLOS, is an area extending up to 12 nautical miles from the base of a country’s coastline. The difference between EEZ and TS is that a state has full sovereignty over the waters encompassed within the TS, whereas with regard to the EEZ, the state merely has exclusive sovereign economic rights to substances lying below the surface of the sea.

3. UNCLOS sets the general principles for equitable access and usage of ocean resources, and protection and conservation of biodiversity and marine ecology. But it doesn’t specify how these objectives have to be achieved. This is where the High Seas Treaty comes in. The High Seas Treaty will work as an implementation agreement under the UNCLOS, much like the Paris Agreement works under the UN Framework Convention on 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)

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