Landmark treaty to protect the high seas now 'inches away' from 60 signatures for ratification

Published on 09/06/2025 - 16:31 GMT+2

A landmark world pact to protect nan precocious seas is connected nan brink of receiving nan 60 ratifications needed to go binding world law, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.

In his opening remarks astatine the 3rd UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), Macron claimed that nan statement has gained capable support to travel into force. 

He told attendees that 50 countries had now ratified nan treaty, and different 15 person "formally committed" to joining them. This "allows america to opportunity that nan High Seas Treaty will soon beryllium implemented," Macron added, though he didn’t springiness a circumstantial clip frame.

Despite nan French President’s comments, nan United Nations website still lists nan full astatine 32 charismatic ratifications - excessively fewer for nan pact to travel into force. 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to ratify nan treaty, informing that fishing, integrative contamination and rising oversea temperatures were destroying water ecosystems. 

“The water is nan eventual shared resource. But we are failing it,” he said. 

EU pledges €40 cardinal to ‘bring nan High Seas Treaty to life’

Ahead of UNOC, nan EU and six of its personnel states announced their ratificationof nan treaty. Spain and France already did truthful earlier this year.  

At nan opening of nan acme connected Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said nan EU had pledged €40 cardinal successful backing for nan Global Ocean programme to “bring nan High Seas Treaty to life”. 

This money will spell towards supporting African, Caribbean and Pacific nations successful their efforts to ratify and instrumentality nan agreement. 

“We each cognize nan Treaty is simply a important instrumentality to protect our Ocean beyond borders,” she said.

“And indeed, we made it – nan Treaty was agreed and adopted. And today, we are inches distant from nan 60 signatures for ratification.”

What is nan High Seas Treaty and why does it matter?

The High Seas Treaty - besides referred to arsenic nan Biodiversity Beyond National Borders statement (BBNJ) - will let nations to found marine protected areas successful world waters for nan first time. 

These areas screen astir two-thirds of nan world’s oceans but are mostly ungoverned. They are managed done a patchwork of location fisheries agreements, shipping conventions and scattered marine protected areas.  

The statement is intended to support nan protection of these bodies of h2o that are extracurricular of world jurisdictions. 

Officially adopted successful 2023 aft astir 2 decades of negotiations, 60 ratifications are needed for nan pact to go binding world rule - thing France was hoping would hap earlier UNOC. The statement will participate into unit 120 days aft nan 60th ratification.