United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that “some countries do not agree that the world’s oceans belong to everyone, and that their selfishness prevents a global agreement to protect these vast areas of the planet.”
Guterres, along with senior officials and scientists from more than 120 countries, attended the five-day United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, as well as activists frustrated by the failure to develop international rules to ensure the sustainability of the ocean.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations emphasized the importance of the oceans to every person on the planet, adding: “International waters are ours” without mentioning the countries he had in mind. The United Nations hopes that the conference, which began on Monday, will give new impetus to the long-drawn-out effort to reach a Global Oceans Convention.
According to the United Nations, “the conference is scheduled to adopt a declaration, although it is not binding on signatory countries, it can help realize and facilitate the protection and conservation of the oceans and their resources.” A vital new international treaty. on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, also known as the High Seas Treaty, as this treaty is negotiated under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the main international treaty governing human activities at sea.
In this regard, it is pointed out that there is no comprehensive legal framework applicable to the high seas, where oceans cover about 70% of the Earth’s surface and provide food and livelihoods for billions of people, which some activists consider the largest unregulated zone on the planet.
Source: “AB”