Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
Ever wanted to be a pirate and sail the high seas? Well, you can, but it’s about to get a little harder. Here to tell us more are:
Anna Amha and Riley Stevenson from our Possibly Team.
Anna Amha: Hi, Megan!
Riley Stevenson: Hello!
Megan Hall: Okay guys, what are the high seas?
Anna Amha: Well to start we need a little history lesson, let’s back it up, all the way to about..
Leslie Acton: after World War Two
Anna Amha: This is Leslie Acton, a lecturer at the Institute at Brown for Environment and society.
Leslie Acton: countries were starting to claim ocean space. The UN decided that we needed a more globally agreed upon governance mechanism for the oceans.
Riley Stevenson: So, they formed the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea- or UNCLOS.
Leslie Acton: the Constitution of the ocean.
Riley Stevenson: It took representatives until the 90s to negotiate and agree on the international laws governing our oceans.
Megan Hall: What does this law do?
Anna Amha: According to Leslie-
Leslie Acton: It defines parts of the ocean by jurisdiction, It defines the high seas.
Megan Hall: And what is that definition?
Riley Stevenson: Here’s how it works- each country has control over the water from their coast out to 200 nautical miles….
Leslie Acton: A little bit over a third of the world’s oceans are within those zones. And then everything out of sight of that is the high seas.
Megan Hall: Ok, so what else does the law do, other than just say what the high seas are?
Riley Stevenson: While the UNCLOS laid out some guidelines like regulations on fishing, dumping, and seabed mining,, there isn’t any international law on conserving biodiversity hotspots in the high seas and only limited protections for endangered species.
Anna Amha: Plus, the areas covered by these limited regulations are too large to be effectively monitored.
Leslie Acton: So you can imagine that enforcement is pretty weak.
Megan Hall: Is that a problem? I mean, how much happens that far out into the ocean?
Anna Amha: A lot! Acton says we might not talk about the high seas that often, but that doesn’t mean we don’t use it
Leslie Acton: it actually is pretty heavily traveled and trafficked by shipping, fisheries, travel cruises.
Riley Stevenson: And Acton says besides all of the industries that use the high seas, there are also many important ecosystems in the ocean that need protection.
Leslie Acton: Teeming with all kinds of organisms, and life and processes that regulate climate and ensure life as we know it on earth continues.
Megan Hall: And I imagine that those laws created more than 50 years ago don’t do much to protect things like biodiversity?
Riley Stevenson: Exactly, and that is what brings us to today. The UN has taken a step towards creating new rules governing the high seas.
Anna Amha: After gathering information and working on the policies for almost 20 years, the UN put a new treaty up for a vote.
Megan Hall: What does the new treaty do?
Riley Stevenson: It’s a framework with a focus on four elements: area-based management tools, marine biological diversity, environmental impact assessments, and marine technology.
Anna Amha: It sets guidelines for how we’ll discuss and create regulations in those four categories. Essentially, it’s a master plan for all future plans about high sea conservation.
Megan Hall: If it’s just a plan and no new regulations, why did it take so long?
Riley Stevenson: Ever tried to get your family to agree on a movie to watch? Well this is a big extended family of countries all with their own ideas and opinions, and the movie you pick will determine all other movies you watch moving forward.
Anna Amha: Yea, it may not feel like a lot, but it’s an important, hard won step in the right direction. You can tell just by conference president’s final words:
Rena Lee: The ship has reached the shore *applause*
Anna Amha:Acton is really hopeful about this new treaty, not only for what it could establish in the high seas, but also for the visibility it will bring to this issue.
Megan Hall: Great! Thanks, A and B!
That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
Possibly is a co-production of The Public’s Radio and Brown University’s Institute for Environment and Society and Climate Solutions Initiative.
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