High seas treaty moves closer to reality with first signatures
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Threats to the ocean environment have been mounting in recent years as a result of overfishing as well as rising temperatures.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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UNITED NATIONS, New York - Nearly 70 countries at the United Nations on Wednesday signed the first-ever treaty on protecting the international high seas.
It raises hopes that it will come into force soon and protect threatened ecosystems vital to the planet.
“It is an amazing moment to be here and see such multilateral cooperation and so much hope,” actress Sigourney Weaver said in New York as the signing process began.
The treaty marks a change in “the way we view the ocean, from a big garbage dump and a place where we can take stuff, to a place that we take care of, that we steward, we respect”, she told the AFP news agency.
Sixty-seven countries signed the treaty on the first day.
These included the United States, China, Australia, Mexico and the European Union as a whole, according to the UN.
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan signed the treaty on behalf of Singapore on Wednesday in New York.
However, each country must still ratify the treaty under its own domestic process. It will come into force 120 days after 60 countries ratify it.
The global pact to conserve biodiversity on the high seas was finally agreed on in March after 15 years of discussion, and formally adopted by the UN in June.
It is seen as a crucial tool to meet a target agreed in 2022 to protect 30 per cent of the earth’s land and sea by 2030, known as “30 by 30”.
“This signing is a purely symbolic moment,” said Mr Mads Christensen, interim executive director of Greenpeace International. “Now, politicians must bring the treaty home and ensure it is ratified in record time.”
The agreement will create ocean sanctuaries where fishing will be prohibited, and also ensure human activity on the high seas is subject to environmental impact assessments.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that US$500 million (S$684 million) in funding will be required to kick-start the treaty, and a special implementation and capacity-building fund could require another US$100 million a year.
Threats to the ocean environment have been mounting in recent years as a result of overfishing as well as rising temperatures.
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Environmental groups say the treaty must be brought fully into effect by 2025 at the latest to ensure the “30 by 30” protection target is reached.
“The ocean can’t wait, and with the treaty being in the making for the better part of the past 20 years, there is absolutely no time to waste,” said Ms Jessica Battle, an ocean expert with the World Wide Fund for Nature. AFP, REUTERS
