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Mahesh

30/08/22 21:39 PM IST

UN High Seas Treaty

In News 
  • Diplomats from around the world have failed to reach agreement on a United Nations treaty designed to protect marine life on the high seas.
About UN High Seas Treaty
  • Also referred to as the ‘Paris Agreement for the Ocean’, the treaty to deal with Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction has been under discussion for several years.
  • The proposed treaty concerns the ocean existing beyond the Exclusive Economic Zones that lie from the coast of a country to about 200 nautical miles or 370 km into the sea, till where it has special rights for exploration. Waters beyond that are known as open seas or high seas.
  • A proposed treaty would set rules for protecting biodiversity in two-thirds of the world's ocean areas that are outside of national jurisdictions.
  • Talks centered on how to share benefits from marine life, establish protected areas, prevent harm from human activity on the high seas and to help poor countries gain the skills and means for ocean exploration.
UNCLOS 
  • The treaty was to be negotiated under the UNCLOS of 1982 which governs the rights of countries regarding marine resources.
  • Currently, there is no treaty for conserving the health of vast swathes of the earth’s oceans, a UN resolution in 2017 decided to rectify this while setting 2022 as the deadline.
  • Having no law has resulted in overexploitation of the High seas by countries: using large-scale drilling and trawling operations for catching fish and mining
  • High Ambition Coalition (consisting of more than 100 countries including India, the US, and the UK), came about (because of delay in the high sea treaty) and put the focus on ‘30×30’ goals – protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030.
Source- Indian Express 

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