The most developed nations have pledged to invest in the implementation of the treaty, devoting close to $20bn to ocean protection, including $6bn from the US and $820m from the EU.
On March 4 in New York, USA, the High Seas Treaty was shaped, which is the agreement to place 30% of the world’s international waters in maritime protected areas (AMP) by 2030. It is about regulating areas located beyond 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from the coast, beyond the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ), the high seas, which represents 60% of the oceans, where there will be fishing quotas, restriction of shipping lanes, scrutiny of deep-sea exploration activities, and specific agreements to share marine genetic resources, such as plant and animal biological material in the ocean.
The most developed nations pledged to invest in the implementation of the treaty, dedicating about 20 billion dollars to the protection of the oceans, including 6 billion US dollars and 820 million euros from the European Union.
Still pending on the global ocean agenda is the negotiation on plastic pollution, which will take place in Paris at the end of May this year, and the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), to be held from 9 to June 14, 2025 in Nice, France, by the time the High Seas Treaty is expected to be in full force.
Our country has been working on this matter, adhering to the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, updating the National Policy on Seas and Coasts and drawing the bases of a Sustainable Ocean Plan that allows the development of an integrated management of the seas and oceans of Mexico both in the Exclusive Economic Zones and on the high seas.
The task is not easy, not only do we have to work on the delimitation and definition of the protection mechanisms of maritime zones on the high seas, but we will also have to overcome the observations found by the international organization Oceana in its report “ANP Marinas, insufficient to protect mangroves and reefs” of November 2021, in which it found inefficiencies in 39 of the 68 marine or coastal areas of our country.
As the world agrees it is a reality that the global ocean surface temperature has reached an all-time high of 21.1 degrees Celsius in early April, surpassing the previous high of 21 degrees Celsius from 2016.
The warming of the oceans is leading to the growth of harmful algae such as sargassum, which affects many countries, along the so-called Atlantic sargassum belt, which runs from the coasts of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico.
In its journey through more than 30 nations, it causes ecological, economic and health effects, according to a report from the UNAM’s Academic Unit of Reef Systems-Puerto Morelos, impacting, among other areas, Cancun and the Riviera Maya in our country and the coasts of Florida in the US
According to the Florida State Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the sargassum that causes red tide not only dyes the waters red and kills marine life, but can cause respiratory conditions caused by water and air contaminated by this microorganism.
The fact that the sargassum crosses through different maritime zones requires the coordinated action of different countries, making it desirable for its management to take place within the framework of this new High Seas Treaty.
Twitter: @raulocisneros
