“Although we have made excellent progress, we still need a little more time to cross the finish line,” says conference chairman Rena Lee.
The negotiations have been conducted for almost 15 years with four previous formal sessions. The ongoing fifth session was interrupted on the night of Saturday Swedish time and it is now up to the UN General Assembly to decide if and when it should resume.
Many had hoped that the session, which began in New York on August 15, would be the last and result in a final text on how to protect and sustainably manage deep-sea life in international waters.