World governments were due to meet at the United Nations in March/April this year for the final scheduled negotiation session to establish a new international legally-binding High Seas Treaty.
While these negotiations have been temporarily postponed, it is important to continue the work and momentum towards finalising negotiations and the adoption of this landmark treaty as early as possible.
In March 2020, Prospect and the High Seas Alliance* hosted a roundtable discussion with Lord Goldsmith, UK Minister of State (Minister for Pacific c and the Environment), diplomats and ocean stakeholders, and the details on the discussion are also included. Please find enclosed a short report of that meeting along with insightful contributions on the treaty negotiations from:
- Jochen Flasbarth, Germany’s State Secretary for the Environment
- Maria Daminaki, former EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and
- Tom Dillon, Head of Environment at the Pew Trust
- Ian Urbina, Pulitzer prize-winning author of The Outlaw Ocean, and
- Professor Callum Roberts, leading marine conservation biologist
Cover photo by Henrik Hedegaard on Unsplash