“The ocean, a big forgotten of international negotiations”

This The United Nations comes in a context of major international tensions. Will countries really be able to make important decisions?

I feel very strong pressure from public opinion on their leaders as soon as it is the ocean. They already play a decisive role. As we have seen on the international treaty against plastic pollution, which was launched in 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya, under the leadership of civil society. All over the world, populations were exasperated by plastic proliferation impossible to stem into their rivers and their coastlines. Fishing, the leading source of food for millions of people in Africa and Southeast Asia, is another issue that affects them directly. There are also people who undergo the erosion of their coastline and claim solutions. We can also evoke the spiritual link of the inhabitants of Polynesia at the ocean. The very strong relationship of humanity to this blue world therefore gives the Nice conference a particular dimension.

What are the main challenges?

The first is the entry into force of an international treaty on marine biodiversity in the high seas*, which would in particular allow to create marine areas protected beyond the areas under the jurisdiction of the States. For this, at least 60 countries must ratify it and we are still far from the account. France will have to bring together the missing signatures.

The second is the rise of waters, which already causes population trips. On June 7 will be launched in Nice a coalition of cities and coastal regions to deal with this major challenge. The third is the protection of major seabed. France has requested the ban on their mining exploitation. To date, only 30 countries have committed to this effect, a fifth of those who vote at the International Seabed Authority (AIFM). The drama is that this same AIFM is writing a mining code to supervise the prospecting of rare metals in deep places and still very little known.

The US President, Donald Trump, also signed a decree at the end of April to open the extraction of minerals in the great ocean funds …

As the United States has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the so-called Montego Bay sea law, they consider that they can do what they want where they want. Only diplomacy and pressure from other states, especially in Nice, are likely to avoid what would cause irreversible damage for abyss ecosystems. This conference must make it possible to implement a moratorium at least and recall that scientific exploration has the absolute priority on economic exploitation.

Second maritime space after the United States, our country is pointed out for its lax definition of protected marine areas. Can we expect an evolution on the French side?

With us, trawling (which destroys the seabed and captures all kinds of species indeterminate, editor’s note) is indeed authorized in most of these areas. I hope that France will announce in Nice that it will prohibit it now, as well as the anchoring of boats which damages ecosystems. A global objective of 30 % of maritime surfaces protected by 2030 has been laid but there is no common definition of what this protection covers. This is another major point to develop.

On June 13, the closing day of this 3rd United Nations Conference, what will you consider its success personally?

First, at the atmosphere and the emulation that I will feel there. The previous conference, in Lisbon (Portugal) in 2022, had been very disappointing. Will mayonnaise take in Nice around the commitments of the States? There are lots of small treaties that have been dragging on the subject of ports for years, the labor law of fishing people, etc. Nice will be a success if it creates the conditions to achieve them. Another criterion will be the announcement of a nearby date and an important country to accommodate the following conference. We cannot wait another three years to talk about the ocean, a big forgotten of international negotiations.

* The BBNJ Treaty (Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction).