[File Photo]

Advancing the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement will be a major focus at the upcoming United Nations Ocean Conference, set to take place in Nice, France this June.

Ambassador of the European Union to the Pacific, Barbara Plinkert, says the agreement aims to strengthen international efforts in protecting ocean biodiversity and managing marine resources beyond national borders.

She states that the agreement requires ratification by sixty state parties, and the Pacific is leading the way with Fiji committed to supporting the BBNJ treaty as a top priority.

Plinkert adds that the EU values ocean governance, noting that 22 of its 27 member states have coastlines, making it essential to protect this global resource together.

“When it comes to, for example, fisheries here in the Pacific, tuna is a migratory species. It wanders, it goes through also these high seas areas. Then if it’s unregulated, anyone can fish there, anyone can take out whatever is in these high seas. It needs to be managed properly in order to benefit the states, the countries of the whole world, rather than to deplete these resources.”

Plinkert adds that the agreement will require a global effort to help vulnerable countries protect their marine resources from being depleted.

Permanent Secretary for Climate Change, Dr. Sivendra Michael, says the BBNJ agreement will support Fiji by providing the technology needed to map its ocean spaces and implement marine spatial planning.

“Mostly all of our legislations currently, as well as the conventions that we have ratified, looks at economic zones within our EEZ. The BBNJ agreement addresses that gap, what happens outside our EEZ.”

He adds that there has already been an increasing number of exploitation cases, marine oil spills, and other issues, and through this agreement, Fiji will be better equipped to prevent such incidents.

Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.