UN ocean treaty talks resume with goal to save biodiversity

By CHRISTINA LARSON
AP Science Writer

United Nations members gather Monday in New York to resume efforts to forge a long-awaited and elusive treaty to safeguard the world’s marine biodiversity. Nearly two-thirds of the ocean lies outside national boundaries on the high seas where fragmented and unevenly enforced rules seeks to minimize human impacts. The goal of the U.N. meetings, running through March 3, is to produce a unified agreement for the conservation and sustainable use of those vast marine ecosystems. Negotiations were suspended last fall without agreement on a final treaty.