In a first step but what’s considered to be a major step, countries have decided to develop a legally-binding agreement to conserve marine life on the high seas.
At the end of January countries met at United Nations headquarters in New York and unanimously decided that they should forge an agreement to protect life beyond their own jurisdictions.
“It’s a pretty significant accomplishment given that the decision was taken by consensus,” said Daniela Diz,senior policy expert with World Wildlife Fund Canada.
ListenThe global ocean commons make up about half of the planet.The decision must be endorsed by the UN General Assembly before September 2015 and then will begin the hard work of hammering out the agreement which would be part of The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. A document could be ready by September 2018.
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