Efforts to pass global ocean protection treaty fail

BBC News:

A fifth effort to pass a global agreement to protect the world’s oceans and marine life has failed.

Talks to pass the UN High Seas Treaty had been ongoing for two weeks in New York, but governments could not agree on the terms.

Despite international waters representing nearly two-thirds of the world’s oceans, only 1.2% is protected.

Environmental campaigners have called it a “missed opportunity”.

The last international agreement on ocean protection was signed 40 years ago in 1982 – the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

That agreement established an area called the high seas – international waters where all countries have a right to fish, ship and do research.

Marine life living outside of the 1.2% of protected areas are at risk of exploitation from the increasing threats of climate change, overfishing and shipping traffic.

Over the last two weeks 168 members of the original treaty, including the EU, came together to try and make a new agreement.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that documents the status of the world’s biodiversity spoke to BBC News during the conference.

Their Senior High Seas Advisor, Kristina Gjerde, explained why this treaty was so important: “The high seas are the vital blue heart of the planet.