Diplomats from around the world have failed to reach agreement on a United Nations treaty designed to protect marine life on the high seas, after a fifth round of talks ended in impasse. Negotiations at U.N. headquarters in New York were suspended early Saturday following two weeks of talks that environmentalists had hoped would close a gap in international marine protection measures. A proposed treaty would set rules for protecting biodiversity in two-thirds of the world’s ocean areas that are outside of national jurisdictions. FILE PHOTO: Reef fish swim above recovering coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Less than 1% of the high seas are protected without a new treaty, and “pockets of marine pro...
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Penguins may not require passports to travel, but they do need protection, according to an international research team who analyzed 131 scientific papers on penguin movement at sea. The work comes as the United Nations continues to negotiate a treaty regarding the sustainable use of areas beyond national jurisdiction, the high seas over which no coastal state can claim ownership. The researchers published their conclusions — and a call for specific protections to help conserve and restore marine biodiversity — in the September issue of Marine Policy. “In the marine environment, coastal states typically retain management of waters up to 200 nautical miles from their shorelines, but beyond that, the high seas, which represent 64% of the ocean’s surface and 95% of its volume, are c...
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