It’s disheartening and depressing that UN member states couldn’t reach the agreement needed for a treaty to protect biodiversity in the high seas (UN ocean treaty summit collapses as states accused of dragging out talks, 21 March). The longer they can’t agree, the longer the greedy plunder of remote seas continues.
And yet the waters and wildlife in the high seas are already protected by international law and have been for 30 years, specifically by articles 117 and 118 of the UN Law of the Sea.
Why did the international community not do what it signed up to? If protective law had been put into effect as it should have been, we wouldn’t be facing such a daunting ecological crisis in the ocean today. Nor would we be needing another treaty.
Deb Rowan Wright
Bristol
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.
