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UN High Seas Treaty

Why in the News?

Negotiations involving 168 countries, including the European Union, to agree on a UN High Seas Treaty for protecting oceans failed.

What are High seas?

  • The high seas are the vast open ocean and deep seabed areas found beyond any country’s national jurisdiction.
  • They hold great biodiversity but also remain the least-protected areas.

Key Points:

About UN High Seas Treaty:

  • It is also referred to as the ‘Paris Agreement for the Ocean’.
  • It is a proposed treaty to deal with Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction.
  • The treaty was to be negotiated under the United Nations Convention on Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982.
  • It concerns the ocean existing beyond the Exclusive Economic Zones, till where a country has special rights for exploration.
  • Some aspects of negotiations under treaty include establishing marine protected areas to put limits on certain activities such as: 
    • environmental impact assessments, financial support to countries and sharing other scientific knowledge.
  • Conversely, every country has the right to access open seas, resulting in large-scale drilling and trawling operations for catching fish and other animals for commercial purposes.

UNCLOS & Regulation of World’s Oceans:

  • UNCLOS governs the rights of countries regarding marine resources.
  • It regulate the conduct on the high seas. 
  • It led to the establishment of territorial sea boundaries 22 km offshore, deciding the region up to which countries could claim full sovereign territorial rights.
  • It also created the International Seabed Authority and other conflict-resolution mechanisms.
  • But a treaty dedicated to protecting ocean health does not exist as of now. 

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ):

  • An EEZ is a region in which a nation has special rights in terms of marine resource exploration and use. 
  • These regions are adjacent and beyond a country’s territorial waters and do not extend beyond 200 nautical miles (nmi) from a nation’s coast. 
  • These exclusive economic zones also include the continental shelf within the 200 nmi limit.