Ocean Treaty: After a decade of negotiations, a historic agreement is reached

To protect and restore marine life, the High Seas Treaty seeks to turn 30% of the seas into protected areas by 2030.

After 38 hours of negotiations, the deal was reached on Saturday night at the UN’s New York headquarters.

Years of negotiations had been stalled due to divergent views on funding and fishing rights.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the most recent international agreement on ocean protection, was signed in 1982, 40 years ago.

Only 1.2% of the high seas, which are international waters where all nations have the right to fish, ship, and conduct research, are currently protected.

Climate change, overfishing, and shipping activity have all endangered marine life outside these protected areas.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, nearly 10% of marine species worldwide were found to be in danger of going extinct in the most recent assessment (IUCN).

The amount of fishing allowed in these new protected areas, which were established by the treaty, as well as the paths of shipping lanes and exploration activities like deep sea mining (removing minerals from a sea bed 200 meters or deeper), will be restricted.

Environmental organizations have expressed concern that mining operations could contaminate marine life, disturb animal spawning grounds, and produce noise pollution.

In the future, “any activity in the deep seabed will be subject to strict environmental regulations and oversight to ensure that it is carried out sustainably and responsibly,” according to the International Seabed Authority, which regulates licensing.