Pew Celebrates Major Milestone for High Seas Conservation

NEW YORK-The Pew Charitable Trusts today applauded a major milestone in aUnited Nations treaty designed to protect the abundant marine life and ecosystems of the high seas, the two-thirds of the ocean beyond any nation's jurisdiction. On 19 September 2025, the United Nations received the 60th ratification of the treaty, triggering a process for the agreement to enter into force.

The historic treaty - officially the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction, also known as the BBNJ Agreement - was the result of more than two decades of negotiations. It was adopted by consensus in June 2023 and opened for signature and ratification in September 2023. The agreement required ratification by 60 countries before it could enter into force.

At the 80th United Nations General Assembly in September in New York, numerous world leaders - inspired by a wave of ratifications during the United Nations Ocean Conference in France earlier this year - formally agreed to join the treaty, which then met and surpassed the 60-ratification threshold.

The agreement paves the way for Parties to the treaty to:

• Establish a network of high seas marine protected areas (MPAs), which can help governments meet the target of conserving 30 per cent of the global ocean by 2030 - a goal adopted by nearly 200 countries in 2022 as part of the Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework.
• Assess environmental impacts to ensure that new and unregulated high seas activities minimize damage to ecosystems and marine life.
• Transfer marine technology among themselves and build capacity, particularly for developing countries, by increasing access to information, training, funding and other resources to ensure that all countries that join the agreement can take advantage of these opportunities and carry out their obligations under the treaty.
• Share with developing countries the benefits - both monetary and non-monetary - derived from marine genetic resources (the genetic material contained in sea life) found in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

The agreement will enter into force 120 days from today, which means it will take legal effect in January 2026. And the first meeting of the agreement's Conference of the Parties (COP) - the decision-making body - will take place within a year after that. In the meantime, countries are engaged in a Preparatory Commission to develop recommendations that would equip the COP to undertake high seas conservation activities; many countries are also already working to build the case for protecting specific sites under the new treaty.

Nichola Clark, a senior officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts who works on protecting ocean life on the high seas, issued the following statement:

"The high seas treaty continues to serve as a beacon of hope and demonstrates the power of multilateralism. The speed at which it went from treaty adoption to entering into force is remarkable for an agreement of its scope and impact. When the treaty is implemented, the world will finally be able to protect important places on the high seas, which hold some of the largest reservoirs of biodiversity on Earth. As the global community looks towards the first meeting of the treaty's Conference of the Parties, countries must continue paving the way for swift implementation of the agreement to secure a thriving future for the wildlife and communities that depend on a healthy ocean."