Sri Lanka has ratified 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), also known as the High Seas Treaty. That leaves only three countries to go.
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. 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.
In a statement, Sri Lanka‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism said the ratification of the BBNJ agreement “marks another milestone in Sri Lanka’s continued legacy of leadership in ocean governance.
“Sri Lanka has played an instrumental role in international maritime governance, most notably through its leadership in the development of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“As a developing country, Sri Lanka is proud to be part of this historic journey to internationally recognize equitable access to and protection of ocean resources for the benefit of humanity. Sri Lanka, along with other developing nations, views the Agreement’s implementation as a means to enhance conservation and the sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction,” the statement said.
