Caring about crises beyond ASEAN waters

Beyond the waters that every country has the right to exploit and control are vast oceans that generate most of the earth’s oxygen; provide food, water and life-saving medicine, even ingredients for beauty products; and provide for recreational areas and inspiration. 

Our oceans regulate the climate that nurtures life and is home to the region’s coral reefs which constitute 77% of the 800 reef-building coral species, and in total, 34% of the world’s corals. The highly popular tuna and other highly migratory species swim these oceans and the territorial waters of Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

But today, the world’s oceans are threatened by overfishing, use of destructive fishing practices, deep sea mining, bioprospecting (or the search for plant, animal, and microorganism from which medicinal drugs and other commercially valuable compounds can be obtained), pollution, siltation, warming waters, coral bleaching, and other impacts from climate change. (READ: PH oceans in crisis)

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, around 80% of the world’s fisheries are fully exploited, over exploited or significantly depleted. Some species have already been fished to commercial extinction, with 90% of the top predators already wiped out from the oceans ecosystem. The World Bank estimates the lost economic benefits due to overfishing at USD50 billion annually. The value of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) on the other hand is currently estimated to amount to USD10–23.5 billion per year.  

Still, industrial fishing is expanding into deeper and more remote areas to fish down what remains of the food web for short-term profit. Deep sea is also being threatened by the search for new sources for oil, gas, metals, precious materials, and commercially useful genetic resources. Meanwhile,  the  impacts  of  climate  change  are  causing  dead  zones  in  the  ocean,  increasing temperatures and causing acidification. (READ: A thirsty world, PH water problem)

Crisis

For the people of Southeast Asia, this crisis manifests in declining fish catch, dying coral reefs, and worsening poverty in the region and missed opportunities to access and benefit from the richness and diversity of life and resources beyond its waters borders and beneath them.  

Given all these, one would think that there is a clear cause for protecting large areas of our oceans to secure our own future, yet less than 3% of the world’s oceans have some form of protection. More appalling, only 1% of the high seas is protected.  Clearly a global response is needed to arrest this alarming situation.

From January 20-23, world governments will come together in New York to talk about the crisis of the oceans and debate on the scope and feasibility of a new implementing agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) to address the problem. The UNCLOS is widely regarded as the constitution of the world’s oceans.  If most governments recommend this agreement, then a decision will be made in September at the General Assembly of the United Nations to launch a formal negotiation that will elaborate on the contents of the agreement.

There is a debate because a few governments like the United States, Canada, Russia, Iceland, and Japan are against negotiating for a new implementing agreement under UNCLOS on arguments, among others, that the crisis of the oceans can be adequately addressed by existing fisheries and other regional organizations, international laws and principles, and a simple commitment by States to prevent or apprehend industries involved in destructive fishing, mining and bioprospecting practices. 

In addition, there is nothing they say to share benefits among States from bioprospecting because the UNCLOS’ principle of freedom of the high seas consisting of freedom of navigation, fishing, to lay submarine cables and pipelines, and overflight, applies.

For some nations, the fact that this crisis continues to unfold in the waters beyond countries’ borders, the existing governance arrangements, geographically by region or by sector, prove that they are not enough to protect the oceans. They are also not convinced that the principle of the freedom of the high seas applies in the case of bioprospecting; instead, the other UNCLOS’ principle, the common heritage of mankind, is appropriate such that the diverse marine genetic resources on the sea bed, ocean’s floor, its subsoil and in the waters under the high seas must be explored, used, and protected for the benefit of all, and not just for the profit of some technologically capable corporations or a few governments. 

If this will be the case, then there should be a governance structure and a system of ensuring access and sharing of monetary and other benefits among States, coastal, archipelagic and landlocked alike.           

Granting that either or neither principle applies, gaps in UNCLOS exist. 

‘Now is the time’

The ASEAN governments and its people have a high stake in these oceans talks in New York. The region will benefit most from a new implementing agreement that will provide for:

• An  explicit  mandate  for  the  protection,  conservation  and  sustainable  use  of  biodiversity  in  areas beyond national jurisdiction;
• Implementation tools, such as a mechanism to establish, monitor and control marine reserves; and to undertake environmental impact assessments (EIAs) and strategic impact assessments (SEAs) in areas beyond national jurisdiction;
• Harmonization  and  coordination  among  relevant  instruments  or  regional,  international  and intergovernmental bodies;
• A  mechanism  for  the  access  and  equitable  benefit  sharing  of  the  utilization  of  marine  genetic resources (MGRs) in areas beyond national jurisdiction; and
• A strong monitoring, control and compliance system for activities on the high seas.

The devastation that huge corporations—some supported by their governments— are doing to our oceans affects us all.  

This is not the time to delay action by hiding behind agreements that are designed more to exploit the oceans rather than protect it.  Now is the time for the world governments to show resolve and agree that we need a new implementing agreement for the protection of our common oceans. 

Now is the time to care about and act on a crisis unfolding beyond our waters’ borders and affecting everyone and every living thing. — Rappler.com

For those who would like to call on governments to support this new agreement, you may sign this online petition.

Lawyer Zelda Soriano is the Legal and Political Advisor at Greenpeace Southeast Asia. She will be a delegate to the upcoming United Nations Ad Hoc Working Group Meeting on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction in New York.