Sweden Does Not Yet Want to Ratify the International Maritime Convention

A new law on biodiversity. This is one of the proposals from the investigator on what is needed for Sweden to join the global agreement to protect the world’s oceans.

In March 2023, 193 countries agreed on a treaty to enhance the protection of biodiversity in the oceans that do not belong to any state. The agreement, known as the BBNJ agreement, was created to limit environmental impacts on the oceans and allow for the creation of marine protected areas. In total, these waters make up 95% of the volume of the world’s oceans.

‘This agreement is the most important international environmental agreement since the Paris climate agreement. It provides a greatly improved opportunity to protect marine ecosystems and biodiversity in the world’s oceans,’ said the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) when she received the report at a press conference on Monday.

Currently, the agreement has been ratified by 21 countries, but for it to enter into force it needs 60. Sweden has not yet done so.

The author of the report, Martin Nilsson, has now produced proposals on what is needed for Sweden to take the step and start implementing it.

The report calls for new provisions on environmental assessments, marine protected areas and marine genetic resources, and proposes a new law on the protection of biodiversity in marine areas that do not belong to any state, as well as changes to the Environmental Code, among other things.

Environmental organisations, including Greenpeace, have criticised the Swedish government for dragging out the process of joining the agreement.