Duncan Currie, legal advisor to the High Seas Alliance gives us an update on the opening statements delivered by Member States during the first day of negotiations. Countries expressed real concern over the declining state of the ocean and identified the urgent need to do something to address this.
We were pleased to hear many States calling for Treaty text to come out of the end of this session of negotiations. It’s clear that many States are here to do business, which is always good news!
The High Seas Alliance also urged States that we need to use the time allotted in this negotiation process (which is now a total of 6 weeks left) to reach a strong treaty that would protect the ocean. We know what we have to do and this is the time to do it.