By Kenza Bryan/FT
A newly ratified treaty to protect life at sea is expected to catalyse opposition to deep-sea mining ahead of a UN climate summit in New York.
The High Seas treaty will become international law in January after it reached a threshold on Friday of more than 60 ratifications, with Morocco joining the list of countries to do so.
It emphasises the need for a “precautionary” approach to human activities on the seabed as well as in sea waters.
The global agreement also aims to create protected areas covering almost a third of the world’s seas outside of national boundaries, and says that future profits from genetic material found at sea should be shared between countries.
The US has signed but not ratified the High Seas treaty. President Donald Trump’s administration outlined plans this year to allocate licences for private companies to mine for critical minerals in international waters, even without the permission of a UN-backed regulator.
Monica Medina, a fellow at the non-profit Conservation International and former US assistant secretary of state for oceans, international environmental and scientific affairs, said the “increasing threats” of deep-sea mining, overfishing, climate change and pollution made the High Seas treaty and its implementation particularly timely.
About 38 countries have called for more work to be done before mining can go ahead because of concerns that it could harm the little-studied fauna and flora that have adapted to survive thousands of metres below the surface.
More countries are expected to ratify the High Seas treaty at a UN climate summit taking place in New York this week to coincide with the leaders’ general assembly.
France, the only G7 country to have ratified the treaty so far, has been behind a push for a coalition of “ocean pioneer” states that have both ratified the treaty and also oppose deep-sea mining.
A French state-funded scientific research institute is among the bodies allocated a licence to explore part of the Pacific seabed for minerals, including cobalt and copper. But President Emmanuel Macron has been one of the strongest voices on the international stage to make the case for a moratorium on commercial mining activity.
While the High Seas treaty does not explicitly refer to mining, it calls for countries to co-operate with bodies including the Jamaica-based International Seabed Authority, which is yet to give a green light for mining in international waters.
Duncan Currie, an international lawyer who attended years-long negotiations for the treaty, said its ratification was a “triumph of multilateralism in an increasingly complex world order.
Its ratification will also add momentum to other measures to protect the world’s rapidly warming oceans, which act as a vital sink for greenhouse gases and absorb most of the excess heat from the burning of fossil fuels.France and Brazil earlier this year called on governments to write ocean-based strategies into updated national climate plans, which are due to be submitted ahead of a wider UN climate summit in Brazil in November.
These solutions could include restoring marine ecosystems to help them better absorb carbon dioxide, as well as efforts to decarbonise maritime industries, such as shipping.
Former US secretary of state John Kerry and UN COP30 chief executive Ana Toni are both due to speak in New York on Monday at an event promoting marine protection as a climate solution.
