The high seas offer opportunities for fishing, scientific research and the discovery of valuable marine resources. But with countries having different levels of access to technology and expertise, questions remain about how these waters should be protected and who benefits from what they offer.
International cooperation on ocean protection is guided by legal frameworks that define countries' rights and responsibilities at sea. One of these is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, known as UNCLOS, under which the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement was developed.
Dr Carol !Garus-Oas, Chairperson of the Technical Committee on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction and Namibia's National Focal Point for the BBNJ Agreement, explains the importance of an international framework for protecting these shared waters.
“It’s basically an overarching constitutional framework that deals with ocean governance. And then we have the BBNJ, which is basically an agreement under the UNCLOS, which looks specifically at specific topics. For example, in this case it’s looking at marine conservation and protection, or marine resource protection, and of course also regulating human activities in the high seas.”
The BBNJ Agreement strengthens international cooperation by introducing specific measures to conserve marine biodiversity and address the impact of human activities in these shared waters.
"Anyone can go there if they have the means to do fishing, navigation and exploration. Would one even assume exploitation because there are no rules or regulations guiding it? Hence now the nations negotiated on a treaty, on an agreement called the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction that is ideally customised and designed to protect the marine environment and the resources and, of course, regulate human activities.”
The health of these ecosystems also matters to Namibia. Fish species such as tuna move between national waters and the high seas, meaning changes in their habitats and breeding grounds can affect fish stocks available to Namibia.
“Everything has a ripple effect. We have straddling fish species, like the tunas, for example, that, if not, if we don’t set some type of instrument in place to protect the straddling stocks, it will have an impact on us to access the straddling stocks, for example.”
The agreement also provides for capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology, helping developing countries strengthen their ability to conduct research and participate in protecting important marine areas, including spawning and nursery grounds.
However, access to scientific expertise and advanced technology remains a challenge for many developing countries, raising questions about whether they can benefit equally from the resources of the high seas.
“The high seas is free for all, but until when? And for whom is it free? Developing countries do not have the capacity to go out there and find a very unique resource that could be propagated into something very valuable.”
The BBNJ Agreement seeks to strengthen international cooperation in conserving marine biodiversity and ensuring that scientific and commercial benefits from marine genetic resources are shared more fairly.
Namibia has established a technical committee to assess the implications of joining the agreement and identify the legal, institutional and capacity requirements involved.