Resolution 2546 (2024)1Provisional version

Towards Council of Europe strategies for healthy seas and oceans to counter the climate crisis

Parliamentary Assembly

1. Our planet’s seas and oceans are complex ecosystems that are vital for sustaining biodiversity and thelivelihood of humans, as well as for regulating the global climate. According to the United Nations, oceans andseas provide 50% of the oxygen needed for life, absorb a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions and capture90% of the excess heat generated by those emissions. They are not only the lungs of the planet but also itslargest carbon sink and play a crucial role in tackling climate change. Representing 71% of the world’ssurface, they are essential to life and the economy, in particular transport. However, just like terrestriallandscapes, seas and oceans suffer from the triple crisis of pollution, loss of biodiversity and climate change.

2. Healthy seas and oceans can be our allies in mitigating the triple crisis and the associated threats ofsocial, economic and political nature. As seas and oceans are at the crossroads of human and environmentalvulnerabilities, preserving their health is in the direct interest of humankind. In this context, the ParliamentaryAssembly underscores the responsibility of member States of the Council of Europe in the realisation of theUnited Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and, in particular, SDG 14: conserve andsustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. The Council of Europeshould contribute to bringing the human dimension of maritime activities to the fore and ensure that Europeanstandards apply more broadly in order to raise the level of protection of human rights.

3. Following the Reykjavik Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (on 16and 17 May 2023), political recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment paves theway to better protection and the full exercise of the human rights of current and future generations. TheAssembly therefore highlights the duty and challenge of fully acknowledging the need to work on climateresilience, to repair harm and to preserve the maritime heritage for future generations as part of the Reykjavikprocess. Addressing the condition of seas and oceans from a human rights perspective implies a moreadequate consideration of major problem areas linked to the fishing industry, exploitation of the mineralresources in the seabed (in particular deep-sea mining), protection of coastal populations, plastic waste andchemical pollution, proliferation of ships flying “flags of convenience” and unsafe reuse or dismantling of ships.

4. The Assembly recalls its Recommendation 1888 (2009) “Towards a new ocean governance” whichcalled for novel approaches to managing oceans and seas. It welcomes the historic agreement which led tothe adoption of the Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty (also known as BBNJ or HighSeas Treaty) concluded on 4 March 2023 under the auspices of the United Nations. This agreement coversinternational waters whose protection was previously fragmented and not included in the understanding of theterritorial or internal waters of a State in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea(UNCLOS, “Montego Bay Convention”). The new treaty fundamentally changes the governance arrangementsboth inside and outside territorial waters. The high seas are now regarded as a “global public good” whichcovers a little over half of the surface of the globe, or 64% of the oceans.

1. Assembly debate on 18 April 2024 (12th sitting) (see Doc. 15956, report of Committee on Social Affairs, Health andSustainable Development, rapporteur: Ms Yuliia Ovchynnykova). Text adopted by the Assembly on 18 April 2024(12th sitting).

See also Recommendation 2273 (2024).

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