Governing Oceans with the 'Marine Biodiversity Treaty'

In Q1 2025, the Philippines builds a new $800 million international container terminal in Manila with capacity of “more than 2 million teu, or 900 metres of quay and eight ship-to-shore gantry cranes.” (Source: Stock Photos)

June 28, 2025 — Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines

An Article by an AIMS Museo Maritimo volunteer

Governments are mounting support for the international agreement protecting marine biodiversity in international waters with aim to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030, during the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France this week (9-13 June 2025).

Gathering country signatories for the "Marine Biodiversity Treaty" or the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction adds momentum to global efforts as a first legally binding agreement on marine biodiversity conservation efforts in international waters. As of writing, ten country signatories are needed to complete the required 60 to make an international treaty—and to say, this new agreement is launched ten years after COP21 and the Paris Agreement.

The agreement provides a legal mechanism for the creation of High Seas marine protected areas, specifically to reduce threats of overfishing, climate change issues, and deep-sea mining. The  United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UN CLOS) define high seas as maritime waters located 200 nautical miles from the coastline and not owned by.

“Protecting the ocean means protecting an immense carbon sink and unimaginable biodiversity reserves,” says France president, Emmanuel Macron in a statement. France and Costa Rica are co-organizers of the UN Ocean Conference attended by government leaders, international donors and agencies, local authorities, business, civil society, and youth.

As the planet's largest carbon sink, oceans help reduce global warming by absorbing 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2019 study by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA) and international partners. According to NOAA, global carbon emissions amount to 9.5 billion tons of carbon (35 billion tons of carbon dioxide) per year in the 2010s.

The Philippines, an archipelago nation rich in marine biodiversity, needs to take lead in ocean conservation and protection. (Source: Stock Photos)

The 2025 UN Ocean Conference Declaration highlights efforts of governments, civic society, youth, and others to meet these objectives:

1. By 2030, protection of at least 30 percent of terrestrial, inland water, marine, and coastal areas are conserved and managed through ecologically effective systems of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and to have at least 30 percent of areas of degraded ecosystems are under effective restoration (30x30);

2. Ocean protection to prevent marine pollution (from emissions and shipping industrial waste) and biodiversity loss;

3. Increase adaptive capacities and resilience of coastal communities using a sustainable ocean economy for livelihoods and conservation efforts to preserve buffer zones of mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs.

Meanwhile, proposals to ban destructive bottom trawling were discussed following the showing of the film, Ocean (www.oceanfilm.net) by David Attenborough at the conference that highlight the role of oceans and seas as source of income, employment, food and innovation worldwide.

Two years ago in June 2023, the High Seas Treaty or formally called the Agreement under 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) was signed as a milestone for global ocean governance.

In the UN Ocean Conference event, an ambitious Nice Ocean Action Plan is for adoption after Conference discussions of the scientific community to inform climate action on: a) global ocean protection, b) global funding, and c) stronger marine science-based policies.

The Philippines has over 36,200 kilometers of coastline and faces threats of rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification linked to coral reef bleaching, and sea level changes. (Source: Stock Photos)

Ocean Protection Efforts

Establishing "High Seas marine protected areas" is essential as only 1 percent of marine waters outside jurisdiction of any country is currently with protection efforts. By definition, high seas are not directly owned or regulated by any country.

The Philippines, an archipelago with a coastline of over 36,200 kilometers, is facing threats of overfishing and climate change threats, including rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification (with negative effects on coral reefs), and sea level changes.

Philippine advocacies in ocean governance include projects in science-based ocean conservation and protection, maritime cooperation and security, and international action based on SDG 14 (Life Below Water) that include actions to "conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development" and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

On the education sector, maritime students are studying Philippine marine biodiversity in the country's territorial sea area of 679,800 square kilometers that is home to 500 coral reef species and  sea life such as turtles, whales, sharks, dolphins and migratory waterbirds.

Using marine protected areas as policy framework, the Philippine government, Oceana and partners in 2016 created a 500 square kilometers of rare coral habitat as a “strict protection zone” to support scientific marine research and an additional 3,000 square kilometers zone that bans use of fishing gear.

Bibliography:

United Nations. (2025, June) Our ocean, our future: accelerating action (Zero Draft).

https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/UNOC3%20declaration%20-%20zero%20draft.pdf

Gruber, N., Clement, D., Carter, B. (2019, March 15). The oceanic sink for anthropogenic CO2 from 1994 to 2007. Science, 363(6432), pp. 1193-1199. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau5153