EU Statement – UN General Assembly: Oceans and Law of the Sea

Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro^*, Serbia^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, the potential candidate country Georgia, as well as Monaco align themselves with this statement.

Mr. President,

The European Union and its Member States are pleased to intervene in this debate at the adoption of these two important resolutions.

We would like to start by joining other delegations in expressing our gratitude to the coordinators of these resolutions, Ms. Natalie Morris Sharma and Mr. Andreas Kravik, for the excellent stewardship demonstrated once again this year. We also want to express our appreciation to the Secretariat and in particular to the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea for their professionalism and constant support to delegations during the consultations, which in the case of the Omnibus resolution extended well into the night on the final day.

Mr. President,

The European Union and its Member States remain strongly committed Parties to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Convention has 169 Parties and is the fundamental pillar for ocean governance. It establishes the overarching legal framework within which ALL activities in oceans and seas must be carried out.

As such, the Convention is rightly recognised as the constitution of the oceans. Its provisions reflect customary international law and are thus binding on all States irrespective of whether they have acceded to the Convention or not. By establishing the legal order for seas and oceans, the Convention contributes to sustainable development as well as to the peace, security, cooperation and friendly relations among all nations.

It is therefore imperative that the freedoms enjoyed under the Convention by all States, including landlocked States, are respected. These include the freedom of navigation and the right of innocent passage. Similarly, it is also imperative that the sovereignty and sovereign rights of coastal States over their maritime zones, as established under the Convention, are respected, including those generated by islands. All members of the international community must abide by the fundamental principles and rules of the law of the sea and should refrain from any actions undermining regional stability and security.

Mr. President,

The European Union and its Member States also remain strongly committed to the Convention’s implementing agreements. In addition to the UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI, we are delighted that a third implementing agreement was adopted by consensus this year: the Agreement under the Convention on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction. We would like to congratulate the international community on this historic achievement that was nearly two decades in the making.

The European Union and its Member States were among the first Signatories of the new BBNJ Agreement and we are strongly committed to its swift entry into force and effective implementation. We therefore call on all States to sign and ratify the BBNJ Agreement as early as possible, and we call on all developed countries to support developing countries in the ratification and future implementation of the agreement.

Mr. President,

The adoption of the BBNJ Agreement was in fact not the only historic achievement to reflect in this year’s resolutions. The adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was equally significant. The EU and its Member States strongly welcome its ocean-related goals and targets, including target 3 to protect 30 percent of the ocean by 2030. The BBNJ Agreement will play a key role in helping achieve this target, in particular through the establishment of marine protected areas in areas beyond national jurisdiction. Such ambitious action to increase the amount of the ocean under effective protection will ultimately help reverse the decline in the ocean’s health and strengthen marine ecosystems’ resilience to cumulative impacts.

Mr. President,

The European Union and its Member States remain very concerned by the declining health of our ocean. The triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution continues to have dramatic consequences. Global ocean surface temperatures reached record highs this year, putting additional pressures on the marine environment that is already facing severe threats from human activities. These include overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, plastics and microplastics pollution, excessive nutrients, and anthropogenic underwater noise.

It is imperative that we continue addressing these threats with the greatest possible urgency, as part of our wider efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular Goal 14. This year we managed to maintain the momentum from last year’s “super year” for the ocean. It is essential that we maintain this impetus next year when we prepare for the third UN Ocean Conference in 2025, which will be co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, and which we are very keen to turn into another successful conference with action-oriented outcomes.

Mr. President,

With respect to this year’s Omnibus resolution, the EU and its Member States would like to express their strong disappointment that it was not possible to agree on stronger language on the adoption of both the BBNJ Agreement and the GBF. Both developments are extremely relevant for the General Assembly’s resolution on the oceans and the law of the sea and therefore deserved much more ambitious and action-oriented language than was ultimately agreed. We also regret that one delegation in particular blocked many other important updates in this year’s consultations on issues that were of interest to a wide range of delegations from across the globe.

In addition, we continue to be surprised that it is not possible to add to this resolution the latest scientific data on the atmospheric levels of two additional greenhouse gases that interact strongly with the oceans, namely methane and nitrous oxide. This should in our view be uncontroversial as it merely reflects the latest best available scientific information, the importance of which so many delegations alluded to during the informal consultations.

We are nevertheless pleased with the inclusion of a number of important updates in this year’s Omnibus resolution, including on the 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships, the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, developments in maritime safety and security, and ‘marine ecosystem restoration’ as the topic for the 2026 Informal Consultative Process. We also very much appreciated the Coordinator’s attempts to further streamline the resolution this year, which we believe has reduced its overall length and improved its readability, and we look forward to continuing this work intersessionally.

Mr. President,

When it comes to the Sustainable Fisheries resolution, the European Union and its Member States believe that it too could have better reflected many of this year’s important developments on fisheries and aquaculture. Apart from the adoption of the BBNJ Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework, these developments are in our opinion the following.

First, the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies reached within the World Trade Organization. Second, the recommendations arising from the resumed UNFSA Review Conference. And third, the amendment of the Appendices to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora by its Conference of the Parties, specifically to include a number of additional shark and ray species. While these developments were widely discussed during the informal consultations, they are in our opinion insufficiently reflected in the resolution and do not give rise to action-oriented invitations. We also regret that, despite the will of the overwhelming majority of delegations to place strong emphasis on these issues, the path to consensus has also in this resolution favoured those delegations that were in much fewer numbers and preferred only limited language.

We nevertheless consider that this year’s Sustainable Fisheries resolution sufficiently signals the importance of these developments for fisheries and aquaculture and includes sufficient indications for guiding the fisheries community in its work. The resolution also includes several improvements on other matters that deserve encouragement, as they could help to strengthen the sustainability of the sector.

Mr. President,

To conclude, both resolutions that we are discussing today are important instruments in the context of enhancing ocean governance. The EU and its Member States have therefore participated actively in the consultations preparing these resolutions.

We look forward to continuing our work next year. The work we undertake in these hallowed halls must ensure that oceans and seas can continue to provide their goods and services for current and future generations, in line with the ethos of the Convention. There is only one Ocean and we all have a responsibility to conserve it and to use it sustainably. Humanity deserves no less.

Mr. President, thank you very much.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.