Despite progress, the negotiations carried out within the framework of the United Nations blocked on the question of the sharing of genetic resources.
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The international treaty intended to preserve the high seas has just wiped a serious tobacco: diplomats failed to conclude an agreement within the framework of the United Nations. The negotiations, which had continued on the evening of Friday, August 26, in New York, are “suspended”. They could resume on an even indeterminate date. “Progress that appeared during unofficial negotiations and in small working groups” show “how close we are close to the finish line,” said Rena Lee, president of the intergovernmental conference responsible for developing the text of the treaty, on the morning of the last day. A new version of the Agreement Pre-Project was then distributed.
sadness and disappointment therefore marked the end of the work, in particular on the part of the small countries of the Pacific, whose fate is directly linked to the state of the ocean. They hope, with other groups of countries, a rapid resumption of work. Because the two weeks of discussions of this fifth – and in principle last – work session allowed more advances than the previous ten years, underlined several delegations. These seem in particular to have progressed on the chapter of environmental impact studies necessary for the conduct of construction sites on the high seas. But that was not enough.
In fact, the exercise is particularly sensitive. Because the future treaty, announced for 2022, is supposed to establish a new legally binding instrument which should make it possible to protect marine biodiversity outside the areas placed under the jurisdiction of states -beyond 200 sea thousands (370 kilometers) -or 65 % of the surface of the world ocean. But he must also set rules for the use of the treasures he conceals. States that have the capacities could exploit the genetic resources they hope to find there, provided they share the benefits drawn from this common good with developing countries. This is one of the points that brought up the discussions. The differences expressed by countries like Switzerland, Japan or the United States did not lead to a compromise on the methods of financial compensation.
Resistance of Beijing and Moscow
Many remains to be defined in this chapter genetic resources, not only on the financial aspect, believes Bleuenn Guilloux. Associate researcher at the University of Western Brittany and, soon, to that of La Rochelle, she sums up these two weeks full of reversals like “emotional roller coaster”. “The definition of terms like” biotechnologies “is still debated. The question of deadlines is not settled: from when the States and the public and private actors will they be required to declare access or collection samples? “Explains this expert in sea law. Another subject of Dissensus: the question of intellectual property and traditional knowledge of populations about these genetic resources have to arise in this context or in D ‘Other instances?
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