UNESCO chief pledges help to fix war-damaged historic sites in Iraq

BAGHDAD -- The head of the United Nations cultural agency promised Monday to continue helping to repair the damage done to Iraq’s historic sites by decades of war.

In a visit to Baghdad ahead of the 20-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay met with officials including Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. She also visited historic neighborhoods in Baghdad and the country’s national museum, which was looted following the U.S. invasion.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/unesco-chief-promises-restoring-iraqs-looted-sites-97661815

New bottom-trawling rules in South Pacific leave many wondering whether they hurt or help

Environmental advocates have long called for a ban on bottom trawling on seamounts in the South Pacific’s international waters, and they hoped one would finally be instituted at a regional meeting in Manta, Ecuador, in February. But the trawling, which has declined in scale over the last decade, will be permitted to go on.

Bottom trawling involves dragging heavy nets and trawl “doors” along the seabed that run roughshod over any organisms or structures in their path; scientists have compared it to clear-cutting a forest.

https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/will-new-bottom-trawling-rules-do-enough-to-protect-south-pacific-seamounts/

Text of long-sought high seas treaty agreed to; sets table for new MPAs in open ocean

After two decades of planning and talks that culminated in a grueling race over the past few days in New York, a significant majority of nations agreed on language for a historic United Nations treaty that would protect ocean biodiversity.

As marine life faces threats from climate change, overfishing, the possibility of seabed mining and other dangers, the treaty would make it possible to create marine-protected areas and enact other conservation measures on the “high seas,” the immense expanse of ocean covering almost half the world.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/04/climate/united-nations-treaty-oceans-biodiversity.html