UN negotiations fail on treaty to protect the high seas

The high seas begin where the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of states end and are therefore not under the jurisdiction of any country.

®Shutterstock

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

Great disappointment at the UN, Friday, August 26, where the Member States failed to finalize a treaty supposed to safeguard the high seas. This fifth session of negotiations therefore ends with a bitter taste: the participants did not succeed to overcome many major disputes. 

Advertising

Read more

This fifth session was to be the last, but despite discussions that spilled over into Friday evening, it was not enough.

For more than fifteen years, the UN has been trying to draw up, without success, a binding text aimed at protecting the high seas. This vast area, which covers almost half of the planet, begins where the exclusive economic zones end ( EEZ) of the States and is therefore not under the jurisdiction of any country.

The member countries of the UN have therefore been negotiating for years to reach a crucial agreement for the ocean, this fragile and vital treasure for humanity.

Among the most contentious issues is the process of creating protected areas.

The lack of consensus on this point further distances the ambitious goal of protecting at least 30% of the planet by 2030.

► To read also: Biodiversity in the high seas: will States manage to create marine protected areas?

No agreement either on the distribution of the possible profits resulting from the exploitation of the genetic resources of the high seas where pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetic industries hope to discover miraculous molecules or on the redistribution of their potential benefits for developing countries who, for lack of means, cannot carry out costly research.

Very harshly, Greenpeace blamed the European Union, the United States and Canada, whose greed to keep these resources precipitated the negotiations towards failure.

Charges rejected by one of the European negotiators.

The UN General Assembly will now be seized of the request to resume this fifth session on a date yet to be determined.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• UN

• Biodiversity

• Environment

• oceans