.png&w=256&q=75){kind=small}
Talks have resumed on a UN ocean agreement to save biodiversity
United Nations members meet in New York on Monday to renew their efforts to conclude a long-awaited and elusive deal to protect the world's marine biodiversity. Almost two-thirds of the oceans are offshore, on the hig...
Updated: 39 months ago3 min read
United Nations members meet in New York on Monday to renew their efforts to conclude a long-awaited and elusive deal to protect the world's marine biodiversity. Almost two-thirds of the oceans are offshore, on the high seas, where fragmented and unevenly enforced regulations aim to minimize human impact.
The aim of the United Nations meetings, which will last until March 3, is to work out a unified agreement on the protection and sustainable use of these vast marine ecosystems.
The talks, officially dubbed the Intergovernmental Conference on Non-Jurisdictional Marine Biodiversity, continue negotiations suspended last fall with no agreement on a final treaty.
"The ocean is our planet's life support system," said Boris Worm, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Canada.
"For a long time we felt we didn't have much of an impact on the high seas. But that perception has changed with the expansion of deep-sea fishing, mining, plastic pollution, climate change and other human-caused disturbances," he said. .
andN.'s speeches focus on central questions such as: How and by whom should marine protected areas be demarcated?
How should institutions assess the environmental impact of commercial activities such as shipping and mining? And who has the power to enforce the rules?
The aim of the talks is not the actual designation of marine protected areas, but the establishment of a mechanism that will make this possible."The goal is to set up a new body that would accept proposals for specific marine protected areas," Clark said. Marine biologist Simon Ingram of the University of Plymouth in England says an agreement is urgently needed. "It's really urgent to do this, especially when it comes to things like deep-sea mining, which can pose a real threat to biodiversity before we can even begin to explore and understand what lives on the ocean floor," said Ingram. Experts say the Global Oceans Treaty of
is needed to enforce the United Nations.
The Biodiversity Conference's recent commitment to protect 30% of the planet's oceans, as well as its country, must be protected.
"We need a legally binding framework that allows countries to work together to achieve agreed goals," said Jessica Battle, ocean stewardship expert at the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deputy Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs Monica Medina said the treaty is a priority for the country."This agreement aims to create, for the first time, a coordinated approach to establishing marine protected areas on the high seas," he said. "Time to finish work." The negotiations are also being followed by officials, environmentalists and representatives of the sea-dependent global industry.
Gemma Nelson, a Samoan lawyer who is currently an Ocean Voices Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, said small island nations in the Pacific and Caribbean are "particularly vulnerable to global marine issues" such as pollution and climate change. not hear. Cause, neither do they have the resources to just deal with it.
He said "acknowledging the importance of the traditional knowledge of local peoples and communities" is also key to protecting the ecosystems and way of life of the
indigenous groups.
With nearly half of the Earth's surface covered by high seas, conversations are important, said Gladys Martínez de Lemos, executive director of the nonprofit Inter-American Association for Environmental Protection, which focuses on environmental issues in Latin America.
"The treaty must be strong and ambitious, allowing for the creation of high and fully protected areas on the high seas," he said. "Half the world is in danger at the United Nations these weeks.
Also Read
Storms, Rare Fogbows and Stunning Sunsets Shine in WHO's Best Weather Photos for April
Searing 45C Peaks: Residents Flee as Major Wildfires Ravage Southeastern Australia
Perth South Fire Update: Commuter Chaos as Bushfire Shuts Down Mandurah Rail Corridor
Weather Update 2025 Germany Hits Coldest Christmas Levels Since 2010
