The United Nations has adopted its first-ever high-seas treaty "forging a common wave of conservation and sustainability in the high seas beyond national boundaries," according to a U.N. release. The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty (BBNJ) is legally binding and was signed by the 193 U.N. member states.
The BBNJ was signed "to prevent a cascading of species extinctions," especially in the areas known as the high seas or ocean regions beyond national boundaries, U.N. Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Oceans Peter Thomson told CBS News. Approximately two-thirds of the ocean is considered international waters. "This is critical to addressing the threats facing the ocean, and to the success of ocean-related goals and targets," added U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
The treaty comes just one year after COP15, the U.N. Biodiversity Conference, agreed to put "30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030," through the Global Biodiversity Framework. "To reach that target, we'll have to establish Marine Protected Areas in the High Seas, and happily the BBNJ Treaty will give us the legal means to do that," Thomson continued.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The ocean faces several threats, including historic warming due to climate change and human-caused stressors including pollution and overfishing. "By acting to counter threats to our planet that go beyond national boundaries, you are demonstrating that global threats deserve global action," Guterres remarked.
-
The US and Colombia renew their feud over the drug warIn the Spotlight The US has accused Colombia of failing in its drug-fighting efforts
-
‘The problem isn’t solved by simply swapping out the faces on screen’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
3 officers killed in Pennsylvania shootingSpeed Read Police did not share the identities of the officers or the slain suspect, nor the motive or the focus of the still-active investigation
-
Canyons under the Antarctic have deep impactsUnder the radar Submarine canyons could be affecting the climate more than previously thought
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th testspeed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
NASA is moving away from tracking climate changeThe Explainer Climate missions could be going dark
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
What would happen to Earth if humans went extinct?The Explainer Human extinction could potentially give rise to new species and climates
