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Historic UN treaty could protect the world's oceans and marine life

FILE - Fish swim near some bleached coral at Kisite Mpunguti Marine park, Kenya, June 11, 2022. For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty on Saturday, March 4, 2023, to protect biodiversity in the high seas — nearly half the planet’s surface.
Brian Inganga
/
AP
FILE - Fish swim near some bleached coral at Kisite Mpunguti Marine park, Kenya, June 11, 2022. For the first time, United Nations members have agreed on a unified treaty on Saturday, March 4, 2023, to protect biodiversity in the high seas — nearly half the planet’s surface.

A United Nations treaty finalized over the weekend would designate 30% of the world's oceans as protected areas, and put more money into marine conservation. Advocates say it's breakthrough after more than a decade of talks.

The High Seas Treaty applies to areas beyond national jurisdiction, generally more than 200 miles offshore. It is part of the commitment UN delegates made at a biodiversity conference in December, where they pledged to conserve 30% of the planet's lands, coasts and waters by decade's end.

Beth Orcutt of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences says it's a significant step toward conserving marine habitat. And she says the treaty could help mitigate climate change by protecting the places that are best at sequestering carbon.

"We know that there's places on the planet where than happens more then others," Orcutt says. "So those might be places that we want to consider protecting, so that function is maintained, or even enhanced, as opposed to being degraded."

She says the treaty will also ensure that all of humanity benefits equally from any genetic material in these areas that might be used in biotechnology, not just the most developed nations.

Murray Carpenter is Maine Public’s climate reporter, covering climate change and other environmental news.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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