The launch of the implementation of the UN High Seas Agreement is significant. It concerns half the planet and nearly the entirety of the blue economy: energy, rare earths, shipping, the Arctic and the Antarctic.
What matters most, however, is something else: the Agreement represents a multilateral application of international law at a time when the opposite trends prevail—the Monroe Doctrine, a transactional approach, and the law of the stronger. This also gives rise to its greatest implementation challenge: it requires international cooperation at a time when systems of global governance are breaking down.
A key issue here is the financing of developing countries in order to bridge the North–South trust deficit. For the establishment of the Agreement’s institutional framework, the third and final session of the preparatory committee in April will be crucial. Encouragingly, there is also interest from philanthropic capital in supporting these efforts.
What matters most, however, is something else: the Agreement represents a multilateral application of international law at a time when the opposite trends prevail—the Monroe Doctrine, a transactional approach, and the law of the stronger. This also gives rise to its greatest implementation challenge: it requires international cooperation at a time when systems of global governance are breaking down.
A key issue here is the financing of developing countries in order to bridge the North–South trust deficit. For the establishment of the Agreement’s institutional framework, the third and final session of the preparatory committee in April will be crucial. Encouragingly, there is also interest from philanthropic capital in supporting these efforts.
