A window into what we’re reading at the Stimson Center’s Environmental Security Program 

High Seas Treaty Passes UN Ratification Threshold for Implementation (New York Times) 

Last week, the High Seas Treaty reached 60 ratifications in the United Nations, crossing the threshold to take effect and triggering a four-month countdown to full implementation. The agreement creates a comprehensive regulatory framework to protect all international waters beyond any single country’s jurisdiction.  

The high seas cover nearly half of the planet, so the treaty aims to establish massive conservation zones to meet global goals to protect 30% of the high seas by 2030. It also provides a unified set of regulations that supersede an existing patchwork of rules from various UN agencies and industrial organizations. Developing nations found their concerns addressed by new mechanisms in the treaty to share proceeds from high seas biodiversity resources and scientific knowledge. 

READ | Three Takeaways from the Third UN Ocean Conference 

Study Finds Global CO2 Storage Capacity Much Lower than Previous Estimates (Mongabay) 

A new study published in Nature found that present global storage capacity for carbon dioxide is only about only about 1,460 gigatons. This startling figure is drastically lower than the 8,000-55,000 gigatons suggested by past research. The reduced figure emerged as safety risks—water contamination, earthquakes, and CO2 leakage—were taken into account in the new figure. And  this reduction in storage capacity  lays out significant limits for global warming reduction to only 0.7°C (1.3°F), which is far below other estimates of 5-6°C (9-11°F) in potential reduction. 

Researchers now conclude that even with optimal carbon capture and storage deployment, the technology alone cannot bring global temperatures within the Paris Agreement’s 2°C threshold, especially given current projections of 3°C warming by 2100. The study also emphasizes the need for immediate emissions reductions and investment in natural carbon sinks (like forests) which offer additional benefits including biodiversity protection and ecosystem services. 

READ | Carbon and Hydrogen in Meeting Climate Goals: Framing Matters 

Afro-Descendant Farming Practices Support the World’s Most Biodiverse Regions (The Guardian) 

A peer-reviewed study in Nature Communications which analyzed 9.9 million hectares of formally recognized Afro-descendant lands found that it had a 56% overlap with Earth’s highest 5% of biodiverse areas. In Ecuador, for instance, 99% of Afro-descendant land falls within biodiversity hotspots, while Colombia’s total encompassed 92%. Deforestation rates on these lands also were 29% lower than in protected areas, and 55% lower than buffer zones around protected areas. 

Sugar plantation expansion in the 1960s and 1970s caused major land losses for Afro-descendant communities, as pesticide drift reduced productivity and forced  land sales. Despite widespread sugarcane conversion, however, researchers found that the remaining ancestral farms still harbor remarkable diversity. For example, in northern Colombia’s Afro-descendant farms boast 272 plant species and 151 insect species. 

READ | How Biodiversity Conservation Promotes Economic Growth in Latin America