Irish Examiner view: More than just a drop in the ocean

International waters’ treaty

Human activity is at the rising sea temperatures, and when you combine shipping, industrial fishing, deep sea mining and the race to exploit the sea’s genetic resources. Picture: Courtesy of Sean Harrington, Atlantic Towage and Marine

It was dubbed the ‘most important talks no one heard of’, but late on Saturday night in New York, and after 20 years of wrangling, UN member states finally agreed a treaty aimed at protecting international waters. 

With the clunky name of The Intergovernmental Conference on Biodiversity Beyond Natural Jurisdiction, the treaty effectively binds 200 countries to a ‘treaty of the high seas’ which will provide the legal tools to establish and manage marine protected areas in order to protect the world’s oceans which, of course, cover more than half the Earth’s surface.