#bbnj

Setting the stage for ocean conservation 🌊

The UN High Seas Treaty is an important opportunity for ocean conservation, but international efforts to protect marine life and ecosystems depend on robust data about marine biodiversity so policymakers can implement effective and equitable solutions.

A new publication in Ecology Letters led by William Oestreich—a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at MBARI—with MBARI Principal Engineer Kakani Katija and collaborators from the University of California, Santa Barbara, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, and ETH Zürich quantifies biodiversity data coverage and makes actionable recommendations to fill the significant gaps. 

AGREEMENT ON MARINE BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF AREAS BEYOND NATIONAL JURISDICTION

Take a look at the World Economic Forum's “Governing Marine Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction: Roles and Opportunities for the Private Sector” report published last year. In short, it looks into the UN's Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) and focuses on what private stakeholders need to know for the upcoming BBNJ Agreement including data sharing, innovative technology and tools, expectations and potential challenges under the new legal framework.

Why is this important? There is a huge governance gap the agreement covers. It's the first global deal to protect marine biodiversity on the high seas. That's 2/3 of our planet that previously had no such protections. The implications of such a treaty are historic.

You can click here to see the current status of the Agreement (hint: 145 signatories, including 61 as of yesterday. 60 was the important number to note because the Agreement required a 60 member ratification to enter into force, which will happen in January 2026).

The agreement itself has been opened since September 2023 and closes on September 20, 2025 (after that countries can no longer sign, but can join later). The US signed in September of 2023.

Dos tercios del océano están en altamar, fuera de todo país. Dinamarca ahora es parte del compromiso internacional que busca conservar y regular esa inmensidad sin bandera.

شاركت الدكتورة ياسمين فؤاد، وزيرة البيئة، في الاجتماع رفيع المستوى بمناسبة مرور خمسين عامًا على خطة عمل البحر الأبيض المتوسط، وثلاثين عامًا على اتفاقية برشلونة، وذلك ضمن فعاليات المؤتمر الثالث للأمم المتحدة للمحيطات، المنعقد في مدينة نيس الفرنسية خلال الفترة من 9 إلى 13 يونيو الجاري، بمشاركة إنجر أندرسون، المديرة التنفيذية لبرنامج الأمم المتحدة للبيئة، وأنييس بانييه-روناشيه، وزيرة التحول البيئي…

At the United Nations for the High Seas Treaty

At the United Nations, for Nature Canada, as Canada signs the High Seas Treaty, one of the most consequential conservation treaties of all time

There are many steps and many hard days from signing a treaty, to ratifying a treaty, to genuinely implementing a treaty.

But this is a critical step. And this is a good day.

Discussion the High Seas Treaty with Canada's Oceans Minister

I commend Oceans Minister Diane Lebouthiller for pledging Canada to the High Seas Treaty.

We had a productive discussion at Canada's embassy to the United Nations, about the hard work that lies ahead to fulfil that pledge and implement the treaty.

This may be our best and last chance to halt the collapse of the world's oceans into watery deserts.