Royal Belgian Shipowners Association applauds the historic move by the UN, to finalize High Seas Treaty, the international treaty for the protection of high seas biodiversity, after years of negotiations. Also, the Association acknowledges Belgian government’s active role in the development and finalisation of the agreement.
Specifically, the UN treaty to safeguard the high seas was finalized on March 5, 2023, by negotiators from more than 100 nations. This long-awaited milestone, according to environmental groups, can help stop the loss of marine species and promote sustainable development.
The High Seas Treaty aims to place 30% of the seas into protected areas by 2030, up from the current 1.2%. The treaty will enter into force once 60 countries have ratified it. It may take some time for the treaty to become effective, but the fact that it has been signed is extremely important.
The Convention on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) treaty addresses, among other things:
- the conservation and sustainable use of marine BBNJ.
- marine genetic resources, including questions on benefit-sharing (MGR).
- Area Based Management Tools (ABMT), including marine protected areas.
- environmental impact assessments (EIA).
- capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology (CB&TMT).
As a founding member of the Blue Leaders in 2019 and a member of the EU’s BBNJ High Ambition Coalition, Belgium has been instrumental in the successful negotiations of the new treaty which calls for protected areas to be created on the high seas. This had not been possible until now, as the high seas fall outside territorial jurisdiction.
As such, the RBSA strongly supports Belgium’s bid for a new secretariat to be set up for the treaty in the international city of Brussels, also the seat of the European Commission, the Council of the EU/European Council and NATO.
Vincent Van Quickenborne, the Belgian Minister of the North highlighted that the BBNJ is to the ocean what the 2015 Paris Agreement is to the climate. He noted that the high seas are crucial for sustaining life on Earth both as a source of food and energy for millions of people and as they regulate the climate and provide oxygen. Unfortunately, as he added, the oceans are threatened by pollution, overfishing, climate change and other human activities, but this will change with the development of nature reserves on the high seas.
Zakia Khattabi, the Belgian Minister of the Climate, the Environment, Sustainable Development, and the Green Deal stated that he is very glad that after years of negotiations there is finally a global agreement through which maritime unique and fragile biodiversity and ecosystems will be protected.
He claimed that much alike the agreement on biodiversity concluded a few months ago at COP 15 in Montreal, this new treaty is a real game-changer in terms of protecting the oceans on a global scale.
With the agreement on the UN High Seas Treaty, we take a crucial step forward to preserve the marine life and biodiversity that are essential for us and the generations to come.
… said Virginijus Sinkevičius, the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries
For the treaty to be ratified by 60 states and enter into force, the separate secretariat will give the agreement more weight and manage the forthcoming demarcation of the protected marine areas, as is the case for other international conventions. As a continuation of its past efforts, Belgium as a Blue Leader will commit to capturing the first protected area as quickly as possible to kickstart the process.
The new secretariat will also manage a separate budget. The high-level call for the treaty was bolstered by the announcement of more than $100 million in funding to support the ratification and implementation of the treaty. The pledge was made possible by both private and public philanthropic institutions such as Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), Oceans 5, among others. The European Union has pledged €40 million as part of its Global Ocean Programme.
