The International Treaty on the Protection of the High Seas has taken a major step forward. It has just been officially signed by 75 countries represented at the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations (UN), which runs until 26 September in New York. This text on marine biodiversity will have taken more than 17 years of negotiations – often fruitless – to reach its adoption by consensus in June 2023. “It’s clear that the ocean is in urgent need of protection, and if we don’t do it, it’s game over”, explains Vincent van Quickenborne, Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister.
Other signatories include Sierra Leone, which is bordered to the west by the Atlantic Ocean; Malawi, whose lake of the same name (29,600 km2) ranks 9th in the world; Ghana, which recently launched its National Integrated Marine Strategy (NIMS); and the Republic of Congo, where the beaches of the city of Pointe-Noire are constantly polluted by hydrocarbons.
China, Australia, the United States of America, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Germany, the United Kingdom and France have also initialled the new Treaty. This act will find favour with French parliamentarians, who recommended to their government in January 2023 to block on the international stage “the adoption of any regulations for seabed mining, as well as the granting of provisional mining licences”. In June 2025, the seaside city of Nice will host the United Nations Conference on the Oceans.
An unprecedented international legal instrument
For decades, scientists and environmentalists have been hammering home the point that marine environments are an essential carbon sink in the fight against global warming. One study shows that “the ocean has slowed the rate of anthropogenic climate change by absorbing nearly 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions”. This has not prevented Togo and several other countries from refraining from signing up for the time being. And yet Togo’s 50-kilometre coastline is undermined by frequent flooding and human activities that exacerbate coastal erosion.
It was precisely to combat this phenomenon that participants at the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) on biodiversity, held in Montreal, Canada in 2022, pledged to “protect 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030”. The International Treaty on the Protection of the High Seas is therefore a major step forward in preserving the wildlife and plant potential of major rivers. Its entry into force, scheduled for January 2024, should very soon enable environmentalists to confirm the sincerity of the signatory parties with regard to the binding commitments of this text.
A future for the blue economy
These include, for example, the creation of marine protected areas and the “compulsory” completion of environmental impact assessments for activities planned on the high seas. These are essential measures, but they are controversial given that overfishing and seabed mining (cobalt, copper) by industrial giants are big business for national economies. Africa has 38 coastal countries, 90% of whose imports and exports are by sea, according to the African Union (AU).
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However, the development of the blue economy seems to be the best way of preserving and sustainably exploiting marine environments. This sector, which promotes the circular economy (recycling marine waste), river tourism and marine energy, is expected to generate 49 million jobs and up to 405 billion dollars by 2030 on the continent, according to the AU. In the meantime, the Treaty signed by nine African countries at the UN headquarters will enable “the fair and equitable sharing of the commercial benefits arising from the use of marine resources” between the five continents of the planet.
Benoit-Ivan Wansi