Negotiations continue for Biodiversity Protection in the High Seas

From March 25th to April 5th, hundreds of delegates gathered at the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan to continue work on one of the most consequential ocean-based treaty negotiations in recent memory. It was the second of four planned intergovernmental conference sessions to establish a new, legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use […]

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ocean news

Mongabay: 2017’s top 10 ocean news stories

Commentary by DOUGLAS MCCAULEY and PAUL DESALLES on MONGABAY | 27 December 2017 1. U.S. drops out of Paris In Mongabay’s 2015 ocean top 10 list, they celebrated the adoption of the Paris Agreement as a monumental achievement for slowing the warming, acidification and deoxygenation of our global oceans. In 2017, remaining nations like Afghanistan, […]

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UN General Assembly adopts resolution

Historic Decision: UN General Assembly Adopts Resolution to Negotiate a Treaty that will Protect Half the Planet

HIGH SEAS ALLIANCE | 24 December 2017 The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution today, December 24th, towards protecting half the planet as it agrees to the opening of formal negotiations for a new ocean treaty. The negotiations will commence in September 2018, aiming for a new international treaty to protect the biodiversity of […]

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Open Ocean Treaty

UN Committee Recommends Intergovernmental Conference to Negotiate Open Ocean Treaty

On Friday, July 21st, a U.N Preparatory Committee on high seas biodiversity agreed on a recommendation to the U.N. General Assembly to advance an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) to negotiate a potential Open Ocean Treaty for the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems beyond national jurisdiction. Unlike the seabed beyond national jurisdiction, which has had a legal […]

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Mining Code

A Glance at the Mining Code

As the International Seabed Authority (ISA) gets ready to begin its 23rd Annual Meeting this August in Kingston, it’s a noteworthy reflection point to consider the progressing state of the “Mining Code”.  “Mining Code” is the term used by the ISA to describe the entire body of rules, regulations and procedures that will regulate prospecting, […]

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save the oceans

‘Make new rules’ to save the oceans

ROGER HARRABIN on BBC NEWS | 12 July 2017 “A report to a UN ocean conference in New York points out that more than 60% of the ocean has no conservation rules as it’s outside national jurisdiction. It says the open ocean is at risk from climate change, over-fishing, deep sea mining, farm pollution and […]

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