India will sign the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, shortly known as High Seas Alliance, next month, Cdr P K Srivastava, Scientist, Ministry of Earth Sciences, said today.
The Cabinet of Ministers cleared India to sign the agreement last month, and the actual signing will take place in September. Then the process of ratification of the agreement will begin, Srivastava told businessline on the sidelines of a workshop on the agreement here today.
Today, there is no international agreement governing biodiversity on the high seas, a situation sometimes described as “lawless wilderness.” The agreement, “the first cohesive, international and legally binding framework to protect biodiversity on the High Seas,” negotiated for two decades under the aegis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), was signed by a group of countries on March 4, 2023.
The full name of the agreement is ‘Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)’. It was opened for countries to sign at the UN headquarters in New York on September 20, 2023. So far, 91 countries have signed the treaty, which will come into force on the 120th day from the day the 60th country ratifies it. Till now only 8 countries have ratified it.
“It is ambitious,” Rebecca Hubbard, Director, High Seas Alliance, told businessline, when asked about achieving the target of getting 60 countries to ratify it by June 2025, “but we are confident.”
Once it enters into force, the treaty will set out a legal framework and process for many things, such as establishing ‘marine protected areas’ (MPA) and sharing of ‘marine genetic resources’ (MGR). The legal framework will include rules for conducting Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) on the high seas. Today, rich countries can use the genetic material from the high seas to develop pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. Once the treaty comes into force, the benefits must be shared fairly and equitably with other countries.
The treaty is also seen as an instrument of action against climate change. “If effectively protected and well-managed, the Marine Protected Areas will help realize the target to protect at least 30% of our ocean by 2030, as agreed by countries in December 2022 under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework,” says a background note provided at the workshop.
Srivastava observed that signing the treaty would benefit India. It would make India part of the decision-making body for biodiversity on the high seas. Being inside rather than outside would also help India access funds for biodiversity programmes.