On Monday evening, Denmark ratified the UN Convention on the High Seas – the so-called BBNJ Agreement (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction).
The agreement is an important contribution to achieving the goals under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to protect 30 percent of the ocean globally, according to a press release from the Ministry of Environment and Gender Equality.
With the ratification, Denmark is committing, among other things, to ensuring that Danish activities on the high seas are carried out in accordance with the BBNJ Agreement. The agreement will enter into force 120 days after 60 countries have ratified the agreement.
The BBNJ Agreement makes it possible to protect areas on the high seas. The high seas are defined as being beyond national jurisdiction, and thus the sea area does not belong to any nation-state. Around 66 percent of the world's oceans lie outside national jurisdiction.
In addition to the possibility of designating protected areas, the agreement sets requirements for environmental assessments for activities on the high seas, and the agreement sets new rules for the exploitation of marine genetic resources such as enzymes, microbes and small organisms in products.
- Marine biodiversity is under pressure, and we have a shared responsibility to protect it. With the agreement, we now have, for the first time, a common international set of rules for the protection of biodiversity on the high seas. It is a crucial first step if we are to slow down the loss of biodiversity in the ocean. By ratifying the agreement, Denmark is taking responsibility and committing to working for concrete and tangible protection of the ocean, says Minister of the Environment Magnus Heunicke (S).
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