The Global Ocean Treaty is one of the most important international conservation agreements in history and the first focused on conserving marine life on the High Seas. It is a legally binding pact to conserve international waters, a crucial component in global efforts to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030.
Until the treaty enters into force, the management of our global oceans is very fragmented. There is no legal global instrument that allows for the creation of sanctuaries in international waters. To this day, less than 1% of the high seas – the largest habitat on Earth, comprising 64% of the world’s ocean – is fully or highly protected from human activities.
The countdown is on, as the pivotal UN Ocean Conference (UNOC) will take place in Nice, France. This UN treaty could be a game-changer for ocean protection.
According to some people, 2012 is supposed to be a year of transformative events. Well I don’t know about astronomical alignments, the Mayan calendar and all that, but for us oceans campaigners, 2012 is definitely significant – for 2012 is the year by which the world’s governments should have committed to a global network of…