Cabo Verde has ratified the High Ambition Coalition for Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), also known as the High Seas Treaty. It makes the 53rd country to ratify. The sixtieth country to ratify will trigger a hundred-and-twenty-day countdown, when the global Agreement will enter into force and become international law.
Since its founding in 2011, the High Seas Alliance has been working towards protecting the 50% of the planet that is the High Seas; the global ocean beyond national jurisdiction. This area includes some of the most biologically important, least protected, and most critically threatened ecosystems in the world.
For most of the High Seas, there have been no legally binding mechanisms for establishing marine protected areas or a global coordination mechanism to assess the environmental impacts of activities in areas of the ocean beyond national jurisdiction.
In its statement at the UN Oceans Conference in June, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cabo Verde to the United Nations said:
“For Cabo Verde, an archipelagic State whose identity, economy, and security are intrinsically tied to the ocean—which constitutes over 99% of our national territory—UNCLOS is not merely a treaty. It is the backbone of our maritime sovereignty, our sustainable development aspirations, and our strategic engagement in the multilateral system.”
“At a time when our oceans face unprecedented pressures—from acidification and overfishing to the emerging challenges of deep-sea mining—it is imperative that this Meeting reinforces UNCLOS as the cornerstone of the international legal order. Cabo Verde calls for an integrated and inclusive approach that values scientific knowledge, respects the rights of coastal States, and promotes international cooperation, particularly with SIDS.”
