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Mahesh

07/03/23 08:07 AM IST

United Nations High Seas Treaty

In News
  • After more than a decade of negotiations, the UN members have agreed (in New York, US) on the first-ever treaty – the UN High Seas Treaty, to protect the world’s oceans outside national boundaries.
UN High Seas Treaty
  • It is the first-ever treaty to protect the world's oceans that lie outside national boundaries.
  • It is also known as the ‘Paris Agreement for the Ocean.’
  • It is a legally binding treaty to protect marine life in international waters.
  • It aims to place 30% of the seas into protected areas by 2030 (a pledge made by countries at the UN biodiversity conference in 2022).
  • It will provide a legal framework for establishing vast marine protected areas (MPAs) to protect against the loss of wildlife and share out the genetic resources of the high seas.
  • It also covers environmental assessments to evaluate the potential damage of commercial activities, such as deep-sea mining.
  • It will establish a conference of the parties (CoP) that will meet periodically and enable member states to be held to account on issues such as governance and biodiversity.
  • The treaty also includes a pledge by signatories to share ocean resources.
High Seas
  • The high seas begin at the border of countries’ exclusive economic zones, which extend up to 370km (200 nautical miles) from coastlines.
  • Beyond that point, the seas are under the jurisdiction of no country, and all countries have a right to fish, ship, and do research.
  • They make up more than 60% of the world’s oceans by surface area.
Source- The Hindu

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