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The United Nations BBNJ Agreement, which establishes legally-binding environmental regulations to protect vast and largely unregulated waters beyond national jurisdictions, will enter into force on Saturday 17th January, 2026. It is a historic milestone for international ocean governance and conservation, and helps ease concerns about the decline of multilateralism.
Now the question is whether we can turn these words on paper into concrete action. Our new task comes as overfishing, climate change, acidification, and pollution are pushing marine ecosystems to the brink. Success will require committed leadership and working earnestly to reach universal participation in the months and years ahead.
To build on the political momentum behind the treaty, and to help parties navigate the implementation process, the European Union, Palau, and Seychelles are co-chairing the High Ambition Coalition (HAC). The state-led initiative is made up of more than countries representing diverse national contexts, marine ecosystems, and coastal communities. Many of them, particularly small island developing states whose economies and traditional way of life depend on a healthy ocean, have long championed stronger measures to protect our ocean for the benefit of present and future generations.
The high seas (known as “areas beyond national jurisdictions” in legal parlance) include the waters outside of exclusive economic zones, typically 200 nautical miles from shore—an area that covers roughly half of the planet’s surface and contains some of its largest reservoirs of biodiversity.
Species like tuna, which are a vital global food source, pass through the open ocean during their annual migrations. As do a variety of whales and sharks. In the darkness of the deep seafloor, scientists are just beginning to understand the role corals, sponges, and complex microbial communities play in the larger ocean ecosystem.
Until now, only about one percent of the high seas enjoyed any form of protection. The newfound enthusiasm for marine conservation, and perhaps why such a sweeping treaty persevered in the current geopolitical climate, suggests that a decades-long science-based civil society campaign is working. Today, it is not uncommon to hear leaders speak fluently about the ocean’s indispensable role as a global carbon sink or lament the staggering loss of apex fish species.
It is this kind of awareness that paved the way for the agreement. Its headline breakthrough is the establishment of a legal framework for designating Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on the high seas. Scientists have expressed particular interest in protecting biological hotspots
critical to fish stocks and marine mammals as well as unique seamounts and other geological features.
In addition to these protections, the treaty mandates the completion of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), including screening, monitoring, and public data sharing before commercial endeavors like geoengineering, energy installations, aquaculture, and bioprospecting are allowed to commence.
Crucially, it also brings fairness to a central part of the global commons. If a multi-billion dollar medical breakthrough, for example, is derived from genetic material found in the deep sea, the treaty requires profits to be shared among nations. A joint trust fund will be developed to distribute high seas profits and to support technology transfer, capacity building, and training programs for lower-income nations so they can participate in scientific research and the burgeoning blue economy.
For the past year, a Preparatory Committee has been meeting to hash out rules and procedures that will bring these provisions to life. The body has already convened twice and will meet one more time before the High Seas Treaty’s inaugural Conference of the Parties this year. Indications suggest that representatives are approaching the process with optimism and are broadly satisfied, though high level engagement will need to be sustained to ensure the treaty’s faithful implementation.
Since representatives from small island nations first began to talk about the need for high seas protections all those years ago, startling environmental changes have transformed ecosystems on land and sea. Now the High Seas Treaty has converged with other key multilateral efforts like the Paris Agreement, Global Biodiversity Framework, and European Ocean Pact. But, unless we implement robust high seas protections soon, it will be too late to protect the people whose livelihoods depend on an abundant ocean, keep temperatures below the all-important 2-degrees mark, or achieve 30 percent ocean protections by 2030.
An opportunity of this magnitude comes around once in a generation. If we fail to seize it now it will be our children and grandchildren who pay the price.
