The EU Council is expected to endorse a draft political declaration on a ‘high ambition coalition for biodiversity beyond national jurisdictions’ to protect the ocean.
This declaration will be formally adopted at the One Ocean Summit, which will be organised by the French Presidency of the EU Council from 9 to 11 February in Brest. Its objective: to provide the impetus for negotiating an international agreement regulating the high seas. The high seas are beyond national jurisdiction and are often regarded as a lawless area, ripe for illegal fishing and poaching.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to MEPs on Wednesday (see separate news item) about holding this “summit for the oceans” to defend both biodiversity and Europe’s “great maritime power”. “We must move from intentions to actions”, said the Head of State.
The political declaration will assist the ‘grand coalition’ in negotiations on the agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction (BBNJ), prior to the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC-4), scheduled for March 2022.
The political declaration urges states to reach agreement in 2022 on a legally binding international treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (‘BBNJ Treaty’).
Link to the political declaration: https://bit.ly/3fzTayB (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)