UN talks to protect high seas continue into early morning, but a deal is near

NEW YORK – UN members were working into the early hours of Saturday morning to reach a long-awaited agreement to protect the high seas, a fragile and vital treasure that covers nearly half the planet.

After more than 15 years of informal and then formal talks, negotiators were reaching the end of two more weeks of discussions, the third “final” session in less than a year.

By the middle of the night in New York, closed-door negotiations were still focused on the highly political issue of benefit-sharing for marine genetic resources collected on the high seas.

“We do still have a few issues to clear, but it is making progress and delegations are demonstrating flexibility,” conference chair Rena Lee said during a lightning plenary session at around 1.30 am (2.30pm in Singapore) to seek delegations’ agreement to continue without translators.

“We have a window of opportunity to seal the deal, and we mustn’t let this opportunity slip through our hands,” she said a few hours earlier, calling on delegates to “stock up on snacks” as they tried to get the treaty over the finish line.

Even if compromises are found on all the remaining disputes, the treaty cannot be formally adopted at this session, she explained.

But it could be “finalised” without the possibility of reopening discussions on substantive sections, before a formal adoption at a later date, Ms Lee added.

Even without adoption on Friday, “it’s a massive step”, Ms Veronica Frank of Greenpeace said.

Disputes include the procedure for creating marine protected areas, the model for environmental impact studies of planned activities on the high seas, and the sharing of potential benefits of newly discovered marine resources.

The high seas begin at the border of countries’ exclusive economic zones, which extend up to 370km from coastlines. They thus fall under the jurisdiction of no country.

While the high seas comprise more than 60 per cent of the world’s oceans and nearly half the planet’s surface, they have long drawn far less attention than coastal waters and a few iconic species.

Only about 1 per cent of the high seas are currently protected.

Ocean ecosystems create half the oxygen humans breathe and limit global warming by absorbing much of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activities.

North-South ‘equity’

But they are threatened by climate change, pollution and overfishing.

For many, any agreement hinges on equity between the rich North and poor South.

Developing countries, without the means to afford costly research, say they fear being left aside while others make profits from the commercialisation of potential substances discovered in the international waters.

In a move seen as an attempt to build trust between rich and poor countries, the European Union pledged 40 million euros (S$57 million) in New York to facilitate the ratification of the treaty and its early implementation.

The EU also pledged US$860 million (S$1.1 billion) for research, monitoring and conservation of oceans in 2023 at the Our Ocean conference in Panama where the United States announced US$6 billion in commitments.

Observers say that resolving these politically sensitive financial issues could help ease other sticking points.

If an agreement is reached, it remains to be seen whether the compromises made will result in a text robust enough to protect oceans effectively.

“The text is not perfect, but it’s got a clear path towards 30 by 30,” said Greenpeace’s Ms Frank, referring to world governments’ commitment to protect 30 per cent of the world’s land and ocean by 2030, as agreed in Montreal in December. AFP