From Plastic to Overfishing: A Glance into Ocean Treaties in 2024
It is going to be two decades when the global environment fails to face the facts relating to oceans. The current year 2024 would be critical to the international struggle regarding marine ecosystems. This would be done by enrolling several new treaties and agreements to resolve issues relating to a variety of issues-from plastic pollution to overfishing-to save the world’s oceans. Such agreements confirm a quick upswing of acceptance of the fundamental role of the oceans in healthy planets, and the sense of desperation for urgent action that could help to save marine life and ecosystems.
Plastic Pollution Elimination
Among the issues the world’s oceans face today, plastic pollution in the ocean stands out as one of the most challenging problems. Every year, millions and millions of tons of plastic waste go into the ocean, disturbing and affecting the available ecosystems there and affecting health adversely. With such facts, the overall efforts toward combating oceanic plastic pollution made across the world have achieved wonderful success within this year 2024.
In March 2024, more than 175 countries agreed to form a legally binding global treaty under the United Nations Environment Programme, which will help reduce plastic waste. The new treaty includes all phases of the lifecycle of plastic-from production to consumption, waste management to recycling. This would imply that all those massive plastic items that reach the sea through sustainable production efforts; perfect recycling systems; and also elimination of all single-use plastic materials will become a reality.
It draws its emphasis toward an international structure that would eventually help reduce plastic wastes. International cooperation and responsibility must come into limelight. It focuses more upon alternative use of biodegradable material, urging the heavy users of plastic in the industrial world to look out for other materials. At the same time, it aims at supporting third world countries if their plastic wastes lacked any form of management system.
This treaty requires controls on the production of plastics that would result in phasing down plastics over time. The idea of extended producer responsibility is presented to the countries where the producing company of the plastic is responsible for the lifecycle of the plastics.
Overfishing and Sustainable Fisheries
Overfishing is another critical environmental threat facing the world’s oceans. Overfishing and its potential extinction of millions of people worldwide who are relying on fishing to source their livelihoods owing to declines in fish stock is critical. Overfishing has a potential danger of loss of biodiversity in marine life since overfishing may cause interference with ecosystems, putting many species of marine animals at the verge of going extinct.
There are, long on, the UN and international organizations calling for greater controls to combat overfishing and make fisheries of the world sustainable. For example, in 2024, it was presented with a new treaty on IUU fishing that causes overfishing and destroys the sustainable regime for fishing.
Regarding enhanced capacity to monitor and enforce compliance, this treaty would set provisions to urge a nation to be open about its fishing sector and hence share its information from country to the other concerning fish stock availability and actuality of fishing activities occurring across regions. The treaty would ensure that marine protected areas were erected and also see the depleted fish stock recovered for the ecosystem to recover from such a destructive activity as overfishing.
The most important feature of this treaty is the worldwide certification program for sustainable fisheries. This will inform the consumer if the seafood is caught in a responsible way and it will make companies put some resources in sustainable fishing. It further focuses on the social and economic implications of overfishing especially in the developing world, which rely significantly on fishing in their economy.
Role of Marine Protected Areas in Ocean Conservation
These regions that are comprised of marine protected areas top the best weapons in terms of biodiversity conservation and recovery of the marine environment. Such regions are normally conceptualized and developed to provide grounds that are deterred from fishing or mining for room to regenerate. At the turn of the year 2024, more attention has been put on expanding MPAs so that area percentage they cover can increase within oceans.
Member countries at the 2024 United Nations Ocean Conference agreed to establish MPAs to cover at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. Such is ambitious enough and within global efforts to reverse the loss of biodiversity and other vital habitats of marine species. An expanded MPA network would reduce impacts on marine life of climate change by providing refuges for species threatened by increased sea temperatures, acidification, and other stressors.
MPAs also help in sustainable fisheries. Some protection of breeding and nursery habitats leads to replenishment of the population and an increase that directly influences fishing communities into making more effective gains. Therefore, there is mutual improvement between the long-term marine biodiversity and the economy.
Long-term Gains of Ocean Conservation for Later Generations
New treaties and agreements appear promising, but many more steps must be taken before the enforcement and implementation are ensured. No mechanism exists for enforcement. One of the biggest challenges has been that of enforcing in many resource-constrained countries, thus challenging themselves with the regulation of the environment. That is impossible to curb activities like IUU fishing and plastic dumping through their enforcement itself.
The need for further international cooperation would be the third. The oceans are nobody’s territory. Questions about plastic pollution, overfishing, and whatnot, have to be solved between all nations; thus, agreement about treaties reached during 2024 is an excellent foundation, but most importantly in terms of the action done so, as without it, one cannot attain any meaningful results.
The private sector too, can play its part towards the safety of the ocean. Firms who venture into fishing, shipping and plastics should be responsible for their contribution to the degrading state of the ecosystem and, thus be working towards adopting sustainable practices within the business. Consumer demand in sustainable products, such as seafood and plastic alternatives will influence market change.
Conclusion: A Step Forward For Ocean Health
The ocean treaties signed in 2024 represent a most important step toward the general effort to safeguard the global oceans. Specifically, through the agreements, the ocean has been able to point out some of the significant issues, such as plastic pollution, over-fishing, and loss of marine biodiversity that would outline a more sustainable future for marine life, though only possible through continuous collaboration amongst governments, industries, and civil society as well as strict enforcement of the new regulations.
This is when now, more than ever is a time when the mounting pressures that human activities and climatic change place on oceans require to be tackled with a sense of urgency and efficiency. Agreements made in 2024 present a framework to address this as they ensure the next generation is guaranteed a much healthier ocean system.
Source:
This article is based on information from the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and other publicly available resources regarding recent international agreements aimed at protecting marine life and reducing pollution.