Leaders of countries met on Saturday evening to finalize a long-awaited global agreement on the protection of the world’s oceans. The final text was adopted at a meeting of United Nations delegates to the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) after 38 hours of deliberations at UN headquarters in New York.

Details of the contract

If 38 hours of negotiations sound like a long time, know that this is nothing compared to the total time the project was worked on – the discussions started in 2004.

This step is a victory for multilateralism and global efforts against the devastating trends that threaten the health of the ocean now and for generations to come. Tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution is crucial.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Saturday

The landmark agreement, commonly referred to as the “High Seas Agreement”, establishes a protocol for the definition of new protected areas in international waters. This portion of the world’s oceans, which usually covers any area within 200 nautical miles from the coast, makes up about two-thirds of the entire marine environment. Like a marine Wild West, these waters have hitherto been largely unmanaged in any meaningful way.

The new agreement establishes, for the first time, a formal mechanism for the creation of more marine protected areas in international waters (or “high seas”). According to the non-profit environmental supergroup Open Sea Alliance, only 1.2% of the world’s high seas are currently protected.

what else is the deal must be approved by the UN to enter into force, creates a legal framework to increase this percentage protected to 30% of the world’s marine ecosystems. The 30% target was first stated in a separate United Nations biodiversity commitment in December 2022, but this agreement makes achieving that target much more likely.

In addition, the agreement directs more money towards the protection of the oceans and outlines conditions for the use and exchange of scientific knowledge and technology. It also sets new requirements for transparency and international monitoring of the marine environment.