UN countries agree global pact to protect marine life, biodiversity of high seas

UN member states agreed a legally binding pact March 4 to protect the marine life and biodiversity of international waters, seen as a milestone in the global fight against climate change.

The UN High Seas Treaty places 30% of the world's oceans into protected areas, puts more money into marine conservation and covers access to and use of marine genetic resources.

The text for the pact, which helps "ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction," was finalized March 5 after two weeks of intense negotiations.

This deal is a victory for multilateralism and crucial for "addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution," the spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Stéphane Dujarric said March 5.

Dujarric said this breakthrough, which covers nearly two-thirds of the ocean, marks the culmination of nearly two decades of work and builds on the legacy of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Biodiversity, ocean-based credits

The treaty professes "an approach that builds ecosystems resilience, including to adverse effects of climate change and ocean acidification, and also maintains and restores ecosystem integrity, including the carbon cycling services that underpin the ocean's role in climate," according to the text of the pact.

This treaty builds on recent global biodiversity efforts. At the recent UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, known as COP15, countries pledged to protect 30% of the world's lands, seas, coasts and inland waters by 2030.

The development is likely to help grow the markets for biodiversity and ocean-based carbon credits.

Voluntary carbon and biodiversity credit markets are looked on as vital to help finance environmental conservation and restoration projects, especially those led by indigenous and local communities.

Learn more about the Voluntary Carbon Market with our explanatory videos

Carbon sinks

Oceans are considered to be the world's largest carbon sinks and key to cutting global greenhouse gas emissions.

The ocean generates 50% of the world's oxygen, absorbs 25% of all CO2 emissions and captures 90% of the excess heat generated by these emissions, according to the UN.

Ocean habitats such as seagrasses and mangroves, along with their associated food webs, can capture atmospheric CO2 at rates up to four times higher than terrestrial forests, the UN added.

Mangroves are seen as some of the most carbon-rich ecosystems in the world while ecologically valuable coral reefs underpin ocean biodiversity.