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The Atlantic ocean is pictured off Lege-Cap Ferret, southwestern France, on March 11 last year. With the vast majority of marine species thought to be undiscovered and over 80 per cent of the ocean unmapped, it is likely that we have only scratched the surface of the health and other applications of marine living resources. Photo: AFP
Opinion
Macroscope
by Stephen Minas
Macroscope
by Stephen Minas

Hard-won global agreement on the sustainable use of our high seas is only the first step

  • The landmark UN treaty will clarify the legal right to exploit marine genetic resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction by establishing a fair regime for access and profit-sharing
  • The agreement must be ratified to take effect, and ratification should come sooner rather than later
Stephen Minas
Stephen Minas
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The ocean covers more the 70 per cent of the world’s surface. For most of us, however, it tends to be out of sight, out of mind. Whether it’s the shipping that carries 90 per cent of international trade or the tiny phytoplankton that generate around half of our planet’s oxygen, the benefits we gain from the ocean rarely lead the news.

Some call this “sea blindness”, and it also applies to international cooperation on the ocean.

In early March, nations meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York finalised a new agreement on the high seas. The agreement, resulting from over a decade of low-profile negotiations, could turbocharge the protection of the high seas – and the use of their living resources to advance science and medicine.
The ocean’s value to biotechnology comes in the form of marine genetic resources, defined in the draft agreement as “any material of marine plant, animal, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity of actual or potential value”. Genetic information gleaned from the astonishing diversity of marine life has enabled the production of multiple medical treatments and diagnostics – most commonly relating to cancer.
Marine genetic resources have also been used in the response to Covid-19. Microbes from hydrothermal vents were used in the development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. The antiviral remdesivir was derived from the humble sea sponge.
With the vast majority of marine species thought to be undiscovered and over 80 per cent of the ocean “unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored”, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it is likely that we have only scratched the surface of the health and other applications of marine living resources.
Activists from Greenpeace display a banner in front of United Nations headquarters on February 27, as negotiations on a treaty to protect the high seas continue at the UN in New York. Agreement on the treaty was reached early this month. Photo: AFP

Until now, there has also been disagreement among nations on the legal right to exploit marine genetic resources in the high seas, which account for almost two-thirds of the ocean. Some states claimed a right to individually exploit these resources under the “freedom of the high seas”, while others claimed that marine genetic resources are collective resources and are part of the “common heritage of humankind”.

The high seas agreement finalised this month breaks this deadlock by establishing a new regime for marine genetic resources access and benefit-sharing. The certainty created by this global legal framework has the potential to spur investment in exploration, subject to internationally agreed environmental safeguards.

The objective of the agreement is to “ensure the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction”. “Areas beyond national jurisdiction” include the high seas (200 nautical miles beyond any state’s territory) and the area of the deep seabed.

To achieve its objective, the agreement regulates four related but distinct topics: marine genetic resources; area-based management tools including marine protected areas; environmental impact assessments; and capacity-building and transfer of marine technology.

The agreement’s section on marine genetic resources aims, among other things, to achieve the “fair and equitable sharing of benefits” from their use, as well as “generation of knowledge, scientific understanding and technological innovation”.

A Chinese-flagged ship prepares to fish for squid on the high seas near the Galapagos Islands on July 19, 2021. Until this treaty, there has been disagreement among nations on the legal right to exploit marine genetic resources in the high seas. Photo: AP

To these ends, the agreement requires states to notify a new UN body, the “clearing-house mechanism”, of activities before and after the collection of marine genetic resources and to provide information on their commercialisation. The clearing-house mechanism will be an “open-access platform” for the sharing of information.

States must ensure that samples of marine genetic resources and digital sequence information are identified as coming from areas beyond national jurisdiction. This is important for the agreement’s benefit-sharing regime, which requires states to share both monetary and non-monetary benefits.

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The non-monetary benefits include access to samples and scientific data and transfer of marine technology, which the agreement defines to include “related biotechnology”. Monetary benefits are to be shared through a new multilateral financial mechanism established in the agreement, with the details to be decided later.

The agreement also sets up transparency and oversight requirements to monitor access and benefit-sharing, including a dedicated committee to which parties must submit information. Its sections on marine protected areas and environmental impact assessments should help conserve marine biodiversity for future discoveries, while capacity-building and technology transfer will enable poorer countries to play an active role.

Following marathon talks, the agreement is yet to be formally adopted and will come into force only after 60 countries ratify it. When this will happen is hard to predict. The lengths of time that international agreements take to enter force vary widely. The Kyoto Protocol took eight years; the Paris Agreement, less than one.

The value of high seas biodiversity to human health – and perhaps to the management of future global health emergencies – is just one argument for the early entry into force and vigorous implementation of this new agreement.

Stephen Minas is associate professor at the Peking University School of Transnational Law and director of its Sustainability Innovation and Law Circle

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