NEW YORK – UN members were working into the early hours of Saturday morning to reach a long-awaited agreement to protect the high seas, a fragile and vital treasure that covers nearly half the planet.
By the middle of the night in New York, closed-door negotiations were still focused on the highly political issue of benefit-sharing for marine genetic resources collected on the high seas. “We have a window of opportunity to seal the deal, and we mustn’t let this opportunity slip through our hands,” she said a few hours earlier, calling on delegates to “stock up on snacks” as they tried to get the treaty over the finish line.
But it could be “finalised” without the possibility of reopening discussions on substantive sections, before a formal adoption at a later date, Ms Lee added.Disputes include the procedure for creating marine protected areas, the model for environmental impact studies of planned activities on the high seas, and the sharing of potential benefits of newly discovered marine resources.