Countries meet at UN Headquarters in New York  for the final round of negotiations toward a possible treaty for the high seas, a new scientific review of recent ocean research has been launched to show the importance of ocean resources to humans. The report, authored by scholars at the University of Oxford for the High Seas Alliance, also recognizes the mounting evidence that some parts of the ocean are near their ecological tipping point due to climate change and other human impacts.

We need to act now to find all encompassing solutions to protect biodiversity on the high seas, said Sophie Mirgaux, senior international negotiator for the Department for the Marine Environment in the Belgium Ministry of Environment, speaking at a press conference at UN Headquarters on Tuesday. Ocean biodiversity negotiations are not a zero-sum game, said Juan Jose Gomez Camacho, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the UN. These negotiations impact the quality of life of all humanity, and the ocean has to be a source of wealth and knowledge for everyone, he said. Plastic pollution is an increasing problem for the ocean, said Lucy Woodall, the report’s lead author “Plastics don’t go away, they just get smaller,” she said, adding that these plastic particles affect fish and phytoplankton.

Findings support urgent need for heightened high seas governance and conservation

High Seas Alliance ‘As States meet at the United Nations for the final round of negotiations towards a possible high seas treaty, a new scientific review of recent ocean research shows more clearly than ever the importance of ocean services, its critical role to humankind and the rate and scale of the changes occurring due to climate change and other human impacts.

Marine scientists from Oxford University’s Zoological Department have reviewed and synthesised findings from 271 research papers relevant to the functions of the ocean published since the Rio+20 Earth Summit in 2012, which highlighted the need for legal protection of the high seas. The purpose of the synthesis is to determine how scientific understanding of the role of the ocean has increased, with special focus on zones beyond national jurisdiction, the so-called high seas.

The synthesis, entitled “Function of the High Seas and Anthropogenic Impacts – Science Update 2012 – 2017” was commissioned by the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of NGOs working to secure a binding international treaty governing international waters which comprise almost 60% of the ocean. See the report here