The ocean treaty is good news (High seas treaty: historic deal to protect international waters finally reached at UN, 5 March), promising to protect biodiversity in the high seas. It is a rare case of multilateralism in this century. But euphoria should be tempered by the realisation that giving it effective teeth will be enormously challenging.
It promises to create a body to manage conservation and establish marine protected areas in the high seas, the 64% of sea outside national exclusive economic zones. Those cheering the treaty should recall that the last great multilateral agreement, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), reached in 1982, set up a body to manage the international seabed and establish a benefit-sharing system.
