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STORY: UN / LAW OF THE SEA
TRT: 2:05
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 14 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK
1. Med shot, exterior, UN Headquarters
14 APRIL 2025, NEW YORK
2. Wide shot, Conference Room 3
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam McCarthy, Preparatory Commission Co-Chair:
“The BBNJ Agreement is a shining achievement of multilateral cooperation and a demonstration that States can cooperate for the benefit of humankind and for the benefit of the planet that we are privileged to call home.”
4. Wide shot, Conference Room 3
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Adam McCarthy, Preparatory Commission Co-Chair:
“The world expects us to take the potential of this treaty and to turn it into reality.
6. Wide shot, Conference Room 3
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Janine Coye-Felson, Preparatory Commission Co-Chair:
“I want to emphasize how important it is that we all work together, we cooperate and collaborate to build on that very momentum that Adam mentioned towards making BBNJ a reality and so that it can enter into force as soon as possible.”
8. Wide shot, Conference Room 3
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Elinor Hammarskjöld, United Nations Legal Counsel:
"At a time when the health, the productivity, and the resilience of the ocean face unprecedented pressures, your commitment to the BBNJ process and to multilateralism more broadly has never been more vital. The need for decisive action has never been more urgent. Your meeting today sends a powerful message that States are ready to act together and without delay to lay the foundations for delivering on the promises of the BBNJ Agreement once it enters into force."
10. Wide shot, Conference Room 3
Today (14 Apr) marked the opening of the Preparatory Commission for the entry into force of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement).
Adopted in 2023, the Agreement is designed to head off a brewing biodiversity crisis in the high seas. It is an international accord that extends several key environmental protections to the high seas, and is designed to safeguard the plants and animals that inhabit the furthest reaches of the ocean.
The high seas have become something of a maritime Wild West, where chemical pollution, overfishing and other environmental misdeeds are occurring. This is devastating some undersea ecosystems and creating ripple effects closer to shore.
Roughly two-thirds of the ocean lies outside national boundaries. Teeming with life below the surface, from microscopic plankton to bus-sized blue whales, these areas are also dotted with potentially lucrative mineral deposits and other natural resources which countries and companies increasingly seek to exploit.
The Agreement has 112 signatories, with 21 having ratified it. It will enter into force 120 days after the 60th ratification or accession. The UN Secretary-General would then convene a meeting of the Conference of the Parties within a year.
The current session runs through 25 April 2025
