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UN treaty to protect high seas gains global support, but falls short of ratification
A landmark international treaty to protect biodiversity in international waters saw a surge in the number of countries pledging their support at the third United Nations Ocean Conference on Monday, but fell short of what is required to ratify the treaty and make it legally binding.
Countries finalized the High Seas Treaty, known formally as the agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), at an intergovernmental conference at the United Nations in March of 2023.
Ratifying the treaty will create the legal framework needed to protect waters and assess environmental effects outside of national jurisdictions – currently a major gap in ocean conservation.
But the treaty requires 60 ratifications before coming into force. With 31 countries having pledged their support before the conference, and 18 having ratified the agreement Monday in Nice, France, that's 11 ratifications short.
Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, said countries are expected to make up for that shortfall in short order, and that Monday's ratifications bring the treaty closer to the threshold needed to make it legally binding.
'In a matter of weeks, we expect it to exceed 60 ratifications,' Ms. Hubbard said.
Canada is among the 85 countries that have signed but not yet ratified the treaty.
To do so, Niall O'Dea, senior assistant deputy minister at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said the agreement must first make it through Parliament.
'In accordance with our Parliamentary process to ratify international treaties, the Agreement must be tabled in Parliament for 21 sitting days. As we are nearing the close of our Parliamentary session this summer, we will be aiming to table the treaty at the earliest opportunity when the next session begins,' Mr. O'Dea said in a statement.
That makes ratification a question of when, not if, for Canada – a point Mr. O'Dea said is demonstrated by the country's track record.
Albania, the Bahamas, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Fiji, Malta, Mauritania, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Liberia, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam now join the 31 countries plus the European Union that had already deposited their ratification prior to the conference.
Their support comes as part of the 'race to ratification' the High Seas Alliance has called on governments to pledge in time for the global ocean summit in Nice.
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Co-hosted by Costa Rica and France, UNOC brings together 120 countries to address what organizers have called a 'global emergency' facing the world's seas – from plastic pollution to industrial fishing and overfishing to deep-sea mining and noise pollution, all of which threaten the global ocean.
Only 1.5 per cent of the high seas – the international waters beyond countries' maritime borders, which cover nearly half the planet – is safeguarded with marine protected areas.
The High Seas Treaty will help close that gap, Ms. Hubbard said, and help countries to deliver on the Global Biodiversity Framework's '30x30' target to protect at least 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030.
Ms. Hubbard hopes more countries may move to ratify within the week and said she'll continue to put pressure on them to do so.
'This isn't some imaginary timeline. The crisis is real. We need action, and unless we're really pushing for it, it doesn't happen.'
