United Nations: India has signed an international agreement to protect marine biodiversity on the high seas, at the sideline of UNGA conference in New York.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar signed the pact formally known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement on Wednesday here.
The BBNJ Agreement, or the ‘High Seas Treaty’, is an international treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It aims to address the growing concerns over the long-term protection of marine biodiversity in the high seas.
The agreement seeks to ensure that marine life is conserved and used in a sustainable manner on the high seas, which is beyond nations’ territorial waters and the exclusive economic zone that could extend up to 200 nautical miles or 370 km from the shores.
The area the agreement covers is about two-thirds of all the oceans. The agreement was about 20 years in the making before it was adopted internationally last year and it bans destructive fishing and pollution.
Under the agreement, countries cannot claim sovereign rights over marine resources on the high seas and it ensures equitable sharing of benefits from those resources.
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