It’s a complicated issue, and there are no easy answers. However, scientists, legal and conservation experts at a regional workshop for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states on “the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity Beyond Areas of National Jurisdiction” (yes, a very long title) attempted to clarify key issues. The two-day workshop took place on May 20-21 in Kingston, with support from Pew Charitable Trusts and the High Seas Alliance.
At the launch, the Program Officer for Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) at the United Nations Environment Programme – UNEP (the Caribbean Environment Programme is based in Kingston, as is the International Seabed Authority headquarters) told us that there are practically no areas of the Caribbean Sea that do not belong to any particular country. But elsewhere in the world there are vast marine areas that belong to no country at all. A few areas (in the Mediterranean and the NorthEast Atlantic, for example) have been declared protected or are under consideration for protection under different biodiversity conventions. More recently, the Abidjan Convention covering West and Central Africa began studying the possibility of similar actions. UNEP is urging greater collaboration within the region to address these issues.
But which is more important – protecting the biodiversity of the “high seas” or seeking to exploit their wealth? It’s a tricky balance – if balance can, indeed, be found. Ambassador Eden Charles, Deputy Permanent Representative of Trinidad & Tobago to the United Nations, emphasized more than once that “a handful of states” as well as international private sector interests are already busy exploiting the resources of these areas. Some have apparently taken steps to establish patents on these resources. “CARICOM must stand up and be counted,” he declared. After all, the Law of the Sea Convention, which entered into force in 1982, embraces the principle that these areas of the sea that do not belong to any nation are “the common heritage of mankind.”
Clearly, there are concerns. Ambassador Charles stressed the importance of an Implementing Agreement under the Law of the Sea Convention to govern and protect the high seas. Currently, no such legal framework exists. It’s pretty much a free for all. The UN will decide to open negotiations on this, and the negotiations may be challenging, one suspects. The aim of the workshop was to prepare CARICOM officials for these negotiations. “The scientists will tell the meeting what the resources are, and how they can be used sustainably,” Ambassador Charles told journalists, adding that the aim is to create greater awareness among CARICOM countries.
To put all of this in a relevant timeframe, an intercessional meeting of the UN will take place in New York in June to discuss the parameters of this Implementing Agreement. The International Seabed Authority’s annual meeting comes up in July in Kingston. The Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States takes place in September, in Samoa. And post-2015, the United Nations is switching its focus to the Sustainable Development Goals; it is currently studying the establishment of these goals from the perspective of the Caribbean and other regions of the world.
Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Arnaldo Brown re-emphasized the “common heritage” principle and the need for “equitable distribution” of the resources of the deep seas. But, as chair of Jamaica’s National Council on Ocean and Coastal Zone Management, he is also very much aware of the problem of what he called “the unprecedented rate of loss of marine biodiversity.” Because, of course, we are not just talking about the exploitation of the mineral resources that are known to be present in the seabed: manganese, cobalt and of course, oil. We are talking about the living organisms of the deep seas and the protection thereof; and the biodiversity of these areas is as rich as that on land.
Transparency, technology transfer and information-sharing among nations (especially between developed and developing countries) is also desirable, although it may be harder to achieve. That, at least, is what CARICOM nations are working towards including in the Implementing Agreement.
So what was on the agenda for the two-day workshop? Well, among other topics, Dr. Karl Aiken of the Department of Life Sciences at the University of the West Indies gave an overview of the high seas resources of the Caribbean; and legal advisor at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Thomas Greiber discussed Marine Genetic Resources. Other participating scientists were Jamaican environmental consultant Peter Espeut; High Seas Policy Advisor at the IUCN Kristina Gjerde, who talked about Capacity Building and Technology Transfer; and Dr. Peter Edwards, a Jamaican Marine Analyst and Consultant to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) based in Maryland, who discussed Environmental Impact Assessments. All the CARICOM states were represented except for Haiti, Dominica and St. Lucia, who were unable to attend this time.
We had the pleasure of meeting Jamaica’s Deputy Representative to the United Nations, Shorna-Kay Richards, who dropped by to talk to us after the opening ceremony. She called the high seas the “last frontier” of exploration of our planet’s resources. The developed world has the technology, and there is a need for sharing that knowledge. The biological assets of the high seas have not been considered; for example, there may well be organisms containing properties that could be used for medicinal or other purposes. It’s all very technical stuff, she pointed out; but the important thing is that “CARICOM needs an active voice.”
If you would like to browse a little more for information on this topic, you might find the following websites handy:
http://www.isa.org.jm/en/home International Seabed Authority
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
http://www.sids2014.org Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States 2014
http://www.pewtrusts.org Pew Charitable Trusts
http://highseasalliance.org/ High Seas Alliance
P.S. Next Sunday, June 8 is World Oceans Day 2014.
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