High Seas Treaty Arctic Birthday Party
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the #BBNJ aka the United Nations #HighSeasTreaty, agreed last year and so far signed by only seven countries, with a continuing push to get to the sixty national signatories needed for the agreement to fully come into force.
Not that countries listen to me, but I call on all countries to ratify the treaty! 🌎
On Monday I attended a very unique online event, hosted by the WWF Global Arctic Programme, which brought together organizations and stakeholders working towards the health of Arctic ecosystems to celebrate the first birthday of the Treaty, and to discuss the implications of the BBNJ specifically for Arctic conservation and biodiversity.
A virtual birthday party for a treaty! 🎉
And how better to celebrate the impact of a nascent UN treaty on a sensitive region of conservation focus than with a birthday ‘rap up’ performed at the end of the meeting? 😄
I learned a ton writing this rap, and I had to, since as usual with Event Rap gigs I only had 90 minutes to compose the lyrics, written in real-time as the discussion unfolded.
The complicated part was untangling the web of mutually overlapping jurisdictions and interests, from the global UN Treaty to the WWF team including Executive Director Kirsten Schuijt and Arctic lead (and event host) Jan Dusík, to Sara Olsvig from the Inuit Circumpolar Council, Greenland, Dominic Pattinson from OSPAR, Katrine Nissen from PAME, Fredrik Haag from the International Maritime Organization, Nadia Bouffard from CAOFA, and last but not least David Balton from the The White House Arctic Executive Steering Committee.
Luckily Professor Erik Molenaar gave a very comprehensive presentation that helped us sort it all out, and Vicki Lee Wallgren presented WWF’s new interactive map showing the overlapping Arctic jurisdictions of each organization and agreement!
In case you’re interested in taking a deeper dive, here’s a link to Erik’s Report
🔗 https://www.arcticwwf.org/newsroom/reports/the-high-seas-treaty-implications-and-opportunities-for-the-arctic/
And a link to Vicki’s awesome map
🔗 https://www.arcticwwf.org/newsroom/features/the-high-seas-treaty-what-does-it-mean-for-the-arctic/
Enjoy the video! I hope it helps you to understand the complexities involved, and helps to brighten your day as you watch the faces in the gallery transform from curious/perplexed to delighted and laughing out loud 😊
hashtag#Arctic hashtag#Governance hashtag#WWF hashtag#UnitedNations hashtag#RapUp hashtag#ZoomRap
