UN Negotiations

HSA and Member Organizations Deliver Interventions

29 March, 2016

The High Seas Alliance and member organizations delivered interventions during the second day of PrepCom negotiations. They expressed their excitement at reaching this new phase where negotiations can begin to develop a legally binding instrument under UNCLOS to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction and stressed the importance of achieving a robust outcome.

Read the full HSA opening statement

Read The Pew Charitable Trust’s and Greenpeace’s opening statement

Cover photo by High Seas Alliance

UN Starts Treaty Negotiation Process to Protect High Seas Marine Biodiversity

28 March, 2016

From March 28 through April 8, world governments will gather at United Nations headquarters in New York City to develop elements of a new marine biodiversity treaty for the high seas and ocean areas beyond national borders.  The PrepCom meeting is the first of four over the next two years, toward the recommendation of a formal intergovernmental conference in 2018.

Watch this space for updates from our HSA team at the PrepCom and follow us on twitter:  @highseasallianc  #ThisWay2Treaty

Cover photo by Abhishek Pawar on Unsplash

States Gather For Opening Of New Marine Biodiversity Treaty Negotiations

22 March, 2016

States gathering at the United Nations (UN) in New York next week (28 March) will begin work towards an agreement to protect life in the high seas, closing some of the largest legal loopholes in the ocean.The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was negotiated more than 30 years ago but did not address marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, leaving nearly two-thirds of the global ocean largely unprotected.  The ocean is the largest biosphere on earth and a central component of the climate system; comprising approximately 75% of the ocean, the high seas provides ecosystem services that are critical to coastal areas and the planet as a whole.

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UN General Assembly Adopts Resolution to Develop New Marine Biodiversity Treaty for the High Seas and Beyond

19 June, 2015

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.

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One Step Closer to Conserving High Seas Biodiversity

30 January, 2015

Source: PEW Charitable Trusts

U.N. will begin negotiating new treaty to protect marine life beyond national jurisdiction.

It took a decade of deliberation, many hours of talks, and one late night huddled in a basement meeting room at the United Nations in New York, but in the early morning of Jan. 24, members of a working group set up to make recommendations to the U.N. General Assembly reached a consensus. They agreed to begin negotiating the first treaty that specifically addresses protection of marine life in an area that covers nearly half of the planet—those ocean waters beyond national jurisdiction.

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Major Breakthrough for Ocean Lovers: UN Takes Landmark Step Towards High Seas Biodiversity Agreement

28 January, 2015

Source: Greenpeace
Author: Sofia Tsenikli

It is time for Ocean Lovers worldwide to celebrate! After years of political foot-dragging, and four hectic days of negotiations at the United Nations, a breakthrough came in the wee hours of Saturday morning, 24 January: governments around the world agreed to develop a legally-binding treaty to protect marine life beyond national territorial waters.

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At Last Some Good News for the High Seas: Progress Towards a Legally-Binding Treaty to Safeguard the Ocean Beyond National Boundaries

28 January, 2015

Source: IUCN

In the early hours of a snowy Saturday morning in New York, United Nations delegates took a historic step towards safeguarding the global ocean commons. Government representatives at a UN meeting agreed to launch a formal preparatory process for a global and legally-binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

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Modernisation of Ocean Governance Underway

28 January, 2015

Countries have agreed to start formal negotiations on a new “legally binding instrument” for the high seas. The Global Ocean Commission welcomes the decision on 24 January by the United Nations Informal Working Group on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) to begin negotiations for a new international agreement for the sustainable use and conservation of marine biodiversity in the high seas

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No Need to Wait for Action on Oceans

28 January, 2015

Source: WWF
Author: Jessica Battle

After four days and a hard night of negotiations, governments meeting at the UN last week took a historic step toward ending the centuries-long free for all on the high seas.

We have the green light to negotiate the first major UN treaty for 30 years, and we can now look to a future in which we bring conservation for the benefit of all to these vital global commons.

Continue reading No Need to Wait for Action on Oceans