By Lynn Capuano

Late on the night of March 4, 190 countries reached agreement on a treaty to protect the biodiversity of the world’s oceans.

This first-of-its-kind agreement to a common framework to establish protected areas in international waters was almost 20 years in the making.  To call it historic is an understatement.

Delegates of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction reached the agreement that is being referred to as the “High Seas Treaty.”  “High Seas” are the waters outside the control of any country.  They make up two-thirds of the Earth’s ocean surface.  They typically are located 200 nautical miles from the shores of a country at the point where that country’s legal authority of any kind ends.

Once ratified, the treaty will extend environmental protection to the high seas.  Until now, all international waters, other than 1.2 percent of the high seas, have been at the mercy of whatever came their way.  This treaty will fundamentally change how the world’s countries and peoples interact with international waters.  Once ratified and enforced, the treaty will protect all marine life from the tiniest plankton to the largest whale from pollution, overfishing, shipping and deep-sea mining.  Nations will propose areas to establish as marine protection areas.  These areas will be refuges for Earth’s remaining wild sea plants and animals.  Extensive areas containing vulnerable marine ecosystems will now have protection.

Once the treaty goes into effect, nations will have to determine how to enforce the terms of the treaty.  Until now, the world’s seas have experienced little to no policing in the face of illegal fishing and all other violations of existing international laws like the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The high seas, and the world’s oceans overall, are the least understood spaces on Earth.  According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, we know of 200,000 species living in Earth’s waters, but there potentially are millions more we have yet to discover.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states more than 80 percent of the global ocean is unmapped, unobserved and unexplored.  This water drives our weather, regulates temperature and ultimately supports all living organisms and yet we know nearly nothing about it.

We do know marine life and marine biodiversity is under grave threat from a variety of sources, including climate change, pollution and marine commerce.  We know of many species in decline and some that have been lost; and there are some we never will know about because they were lost before they could be discovered. This treaty gives us a chance to stem the decline and loss and maintain the potential for discovery.  It also brings greater attention and conversation to the conditions threatening the world’s oceans and all the life within.

Climate change is increasing aquatic temperatures and making the waters more acidic.  Shipping traffic collides with surface marine life like whales; and deep underwater, companies are mining the seafloor for minerals, degrading the ocean’s ecosystems and releasing carbon sequestered there.  By protecting marine life, the treaty helps preserve marine biodiversity, which in turn increases the amount of carbon absorbed by the ocean.

In addition to providing a way to address the impacts of climate change that typically affect poorer communities disproportionately around the world, the treaty also presents an opportunity to consider a more equitable way to divide profits from deep-sea scientific discoveries.  Deterioration of the seas and marine ecosystems impacts billions of people who depend on the oceans for their food and livelihood.

Part of the treaty establishes a framework for international coordination of environmental impact assessments and sharing of marine genetic resources – information that can help address human illness and inspire innovation in all areas of human life.  It also includes an agreement to share the profits of ocean discoveries resulting in commercial endeavors with developing countries that lack the resources to conduct their own research.

The text of the treaty must now be ratified by the United Nations.  That is no small feat.  It could take years for United Nations member states to formally adopt the treaty so that it can go into effect. The United States historically has been slow to ratify environmental treaties if it ratifies them at all.  For a treaty to have the weight of law, two-thirds of the U.S. Senate must ratify the treaty.

What can you do to help get this momentous treaty ratified?  Contact President Biden’s office and our U.S. senators (Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer) and let them know you want them to support U.S. ratification of the “High Seas Treaty.”   With your support and advocacy, we can be at the forefront of global adoption of this significant agreement to protect our greatest natural resource.