Source: Chinadialogue Ocean
Author: Li Jing
The ocean is home to millions of species, many of which are still unknown to humans. It supplies us with oxygen and each year absorbs nearly 25% of the greenhouse gases we produce by burning fossil fuels. However, vast areas of the high seas, which cover nearly half of the Earth’s surface, remain unregulated.
Continue reading High seas treaty: race for rights to ocean’s genetic resources
Source: Science
Author: Alex Fox
No flag can claim the high seas, but many nations exploit them. As a result, life in the two-thirds of the oceans beyond any country’s territorial waters faces many threats that are largely unregulated, including overfishing and the emerging deep-sea mining industry.
Continue reading First ever high-seas conservation treaty would protect life in international waters
Source: Reuters
Author: Zoe Tabary
Ransom-hungry pirates, polar explorers, offshore oil giants – the race for the riches of the world’s final frontier is on.
From Thailand to Alaska, the battle to tap ever-dwindling resources from minerals to fish is spurring new conflicts over who has the right to the treasures of the deep seas.
Continue reading The final frontier: who owns the oceans and their hidden treasures?
Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts
Author: Liz Karan
Meeting in New York, London lay groundwork to protect vast ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction.
Continue reading Governments Start Formal Talks on High Seas Treaty
Source: Frontiers in Marine Science
Authors: Les Watling and Peter J. Auster
The ecological sustainability of fishing in the deep sea, in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), rose to the attention of the member States of the United Nations and elicited action in 2004 and then more strongly in 2006 (Gianni et al., 2011). Mounting evidence of the effects of fishing in the deep sea, such as the destruction of deep sea coral communities at sites around the globe, and the slow growth, time to maturity and tremendous age reached by some species of deep sea fish, caused many to consider the sustainability of common fishing practices.
Continue reading Seamounts on the High Seas Should Be Managed as Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems
Source: High Seas Alliance
A landmark resolution was adopted earlier today by a consensus of UN member states, to develop a legally-binding treaty for the conservation of marine life beyond national territorial waters – that area of the ocean shared by all. Resolution UNGA 99/292 formalizes the recommendations made last January by the UN Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group (“UN Working Group”) which was tasked with assessing the feasibility of a new treaty, and signals a major step forward toward convening an intergovernmental negotiating conference that would finalize the terms of the new treaty, possibly in 2018.
Source: High Seas Alliance
States took a major step toward urgently needed ocean protection at the UN today agreeing to develop a legally binding agreement to conserve marine life in the high seas.
Continue reading Meeting Closes With A Major Step For The Ocean
Source: iisd Reporting Services – Linkages
The seventh meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction (BBNJ) convened from 1-4 April 2014 at UN Headquarters in New York.
The DSCC spoke during the Plenary Session entitled Improving Governance of Marine Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction: Development of Management Options during the final day of the Fifth Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts, and Islands held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France 3-7 May 2010.
Members of the DSCC attending the ad hoc informal working group on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, which opened at the United Nations yesterday (1st February 2010), made the following intervention:
Continue reading DSCC Intervention Statement at the United Nations
