Just before the U.N. General Assembly is to take a decision on a new agreement on high seas protection at its session starting on September 24, a petition for Mission Ocean will reach it from the world over.
In India, industrialist Ratan Tata has joined leaders from other countries in launching the petition to get signatures, and already 1,000 people have signed it.
In the petition, Mr. Tata said, “As a businessman and philanthropist, I have dedicated my life to a fairer and more just society. None of this would have been possible without the riches of a healthy, living planet, not least the ocean. For India, a healthy ocean is many things — a source of food, a means of trade, a way of life — but also, inescapably, essential for all life on Earth. Today, its resources and freedoms are being exploited at the expense of us all — especially the poorest in society. Now more than ever, better ocean governance is critical for a more equitable and just world.”
In the coming session, the United Nations will discuss the future of the high seas and how they should be governed.
The petition said the high seas — made up of international waters and covering 45 per cent of the Earth — “belong to all, yet resemble a failed state beyond the jurisdiction of any government. No one is taking overall responsibility, with the alarming result that the health of the entire ocean is in severe decline. It is time to extend the rule of law to the deep blue half of our planet.
“We need a new international agreement [under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea] to secure ocean health and the sustainable and equitable use and conservation of high seas resources,” it added.
The target is 2,50,000 signatures and the petition already has over 2,20,000 signatures the world over, mobilised by leaders in various countries and the Global Ocean Commission.
