September 29, 2025 — In a milestone for ocean governance and conservation, the High Seas Treaty has cleared the final hurdle to become international law, which for the first time provides a legal pathway towards protecting vast areas of the global ocean beyond countries’ national jurisdictions.
‘Super big deal’: High seas treaty reaches enough ratifications to become law
September 24, 2025 — A major treaty establishing a framework for the world’s nations to jointly manage marine conservation in international waters, which cover about half of the Earth’s surface, has reached enough ratifications to become international law. It will come into force in January.
The deal, known as the agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), was reached in 2023 with much fanfare in marine conservation circles. But like any international agreement, the high seas treaty, as it’s often called, didn’t just become law overnight. It required 60 countries to ratify it to enter into force. Now, with unusual speed by the standards of such deals, it’s reached that threshold.
Morocco deposited its instrument of acceptance on Sept. 19, becoming the 60th country to do so. That launched a 120-day period until the treaty will become binding international law, on Jan. 17, 2026. Experts and advocates celebrated the occasion, calling it a win for conservation and international cooperation.
“This is a super big deal, both for ocean protection and for proving that there’s still hope in multilateralism, that countries can come together and do big things, even in these times where there’s so much discord across the world,” Arlo Hemphill, an oceans project lead at Greenpeace USA, told Mongabay.
Morocco’s mission to the U.N. called it “a milestone for the protection of the ocean, the strengthening of multilateralism, and the collective commitment of the international community to safeguarding marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction” in an X post.
Hard-Fought Treaty to Protect Ocean Life Clears a Final Hurdle
September 22, 2025 — The high seas, the vast waters beyond any one country’s jurisdiction, cover nearly half the planet. On Friday, a hard-fought global treaty to protect the “cornucopia of biodiversity” living there cleared a final hurdle and will become international law.
The High Seas Treaty, as it is known, was ratified by a 60th nation, Morocco, crossing the threshold for United Nations treaties to go into effect. Two decades in the making, it allows for the establishment of enormous conservation zones in international waters.
Environmentalists hailed it as a historic moment. The treaty “is a conservation opportunity that happens once in a generation, if that,” said Lisa Speer, who directs the International Oceans Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
It is also a bright spot amid a general dimming of optimism about international diplomacy and cooperation among nations toward common goals. It will come into force just as the high seas are poised to become the site of controversial industrial activities including deep sea mining.
UN Ocean Conference makes progress on protecting marine waters
June 19, 2025 — The United Nations Ocean Conference, held June 9-13 in Nice, France, saw some progress on better protecting the hundreds of thousands of species that live in marine waters and the communities that depend on the sea for work or sustenance. New countries committed to the high seas treaty, a moratorium on deep-sea mining and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, while a huge group of nations pushed for a strong global plastics treaty.
The conference, which followed previous installments in New York in 2017 and Lisbon in 2022, was a place for members of public and private institutions to exchange ideas and for countries to make pledges.
“I urge all countries to come forward with bold pledges,” said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in opening remarks on June 9. “We live in an age of turmoil, but the resolve I see here gives me hope.”
In addition to progress on various treaties, several countries moved to create marine protected areas (MPAs) and reserves, or strengthen existing ones, including the announcement of the world’s largest MPA in French Polynesia. Meanwhile, a wide range of groups announced additional marine conservation initiatives.
International agreements
During the conference, 19 countries newly ratified the agreement on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), also called the high seas treaty. (International waters are often called the high seas.)
BBNJ will enter into force shortly after 60 countries ratify it. The ratifications in Nice — by countries including Indonesia, Mauritania, Fiji and Belgium — bring the total count to 50 nations.
The enactment of BBNJ is generally regarded as key to the future of marine conservation in the high seas, accounting for more than half of the world’s ocean area. For example, it could lead to the development of large-scale MPAs in the high seas.
“This week’s ratifications of the high seas treaty in Nice mark a major milestone for ocean action. Since the agreement was finalized two years ago, this conference has served as a beacon for nations to work toward ratification,” Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, an umbrella group of NGOs, said in a statement. “But we must keep our foot on the #RaceForRatification accelerator,” she added.
Also in Nice, 95 countries issued a declaration calling for a strong, binding global plastics treaty, which is still under negotiation, with the next round of talks to be held in Geneva in August.
The treaty is aimed at dealing with a severe problem: The equivalent of about 2,000 garbage trucks of plastics are dumped into oceans, rivers and lakes every day. As well, microplastics are abundant in marine ecosystems from the surface to the deep sea.
The most controversial part of the plastics treaty is a proposed cap on plastics production.
Supporters of the cap argue that the production of plastics, which are derived from fossil fuels, is the root of the problem. However, petrostates such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia have vocally resisted such a cap, insisting that the treaty focus on limiting consumption and improving recycling. The petrostates were not among the 95 signatories in Nice, nor were other plastic-producing nations such as the United States, South Korea and China.
Proponents of the cap blame the power of the plastics lobby. The plastics industry draws revenues of roughly $700 billion per year, and production is expected to rise in coming decades.
Officials from many countries, including Colombia, Mexico and France, spoke out for a production cap at the conference, as did speakers from small island developing states.
“We should not have a treaty just so that we have a very nice text — we need to match ambition with action,” Steven Victor, the minister of agriculture, fisheries and environment of Palau, an island in the Pacific Ocean, said at a plastics panel in Nice.
Victor explained to audience members the injustices of the current plastic industry.
“I don’t know if you’ve been to any island,” he said. “You won’t see any plastic being produced. You’ll see our beaches being littered with plastics. No matter how much we try to pick it up, it keeps coming.”
FAO releases a detailed global assessment of marine fish stocks
June 18, 2025 — Some of the world’s marine fisheries are recovering under strong, science-based management, but many others remain under pressure, according to a report launched today at the UN Ocean Conference by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). It shows just how far effective governance can go and how urgently those gains need to be replicated.
The review of the state of world marine fishery resources – 2025 reports on the biological sustainability of 2,570 individual fish stocks, a major increase from previous editions. Informed by over 650 experts from more than 200 institutions and over 90 countries, this participatory and inclusive report analyzes trends across all FAO marine fishing areas and offers the clearest picture to date of how global marine fisheries are faring.
The report confirms that 64.5% of all fishery stocks are exploited within biologically sustainable levels, with 35.5% of stocks classified as over-fished. When weighted by their production levels, 77.2% of global fisheries landings come from biologically sustainable stocks.
In marine fishing areas under effective fisheries management, sustainability rates far exceed the global average. In the Northeast Pacific, for example, 92.7% of stocks are sustainably fished.
“Effective management remains the most powerful tool for conserving fisheries resources. This review provides an unprecedentedly comprehensive understanding, enabling more informed decision-making based on data,” said QU Dongyu, Director-General of FAO. “This report gives governments the evidence they need to shape policy and coordinate coherently.”
UN High Seas Treaty edges closer to coming into force
June 13, 2025 — The biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement, also referred to commonly as the High Seas Treaty, has moved closer to entering into force after 19 countries ratified the agreement during the United Nations Ocean Conference.
The High Seas Treaty is the result of a deal that was finalized in March 2023 after nearly 20 years of UN-facilitated talks. The treaty first opened for ratification in September 2023 and requires at least 60 countries to ratify the agreement in order to enter into force.
FAO releases detailed global assessment of marine fish stocks, determines 2030 SDG goals likely out of reach
June 12, 2025 — The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has released its latest review of the state of the world’s marine fisheries resources in what it is calling its most detailed assessment yet, finding many of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) set out in its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will be out of reach.
This year, the annual report analyzed 2,570 disaggregated fisheries stocks, ramping up its analysis significantly from the 450 aggregated stocks used in previous FAO assessments. FAO said the disaggregation of so many stocks allows for more granular analysis, providing better information to monitor the state of resources.
How AI Can Help Save Our Oceans
June 12, 2025 — At this week’s U.N. Oceans Conference in the south of France, delegates need only glance outside the conference hall at the glittering Mediterranean for a stark reminder of the problem they are trying to solve. Scientists estimate there are now about 400 ocean “dead zones” in the world, where no sea life can survive—more than double the number 20 years ago. The oceans, which cover 70% of Earth and are crucial to mitigating global warming, will likely contain more tonnage of plastic junk than fish by 2050. And by 2100, about 90% of marine species could be extinct.
But for all the grim talk among government officials, scientists, and investors, there is also much discussion about something that might help: Artificial intelligence.
AI has been used by oceanographers for many years, most commonly to gather data from robots sitting deep underwater. But scientists and environmentalists say breakthroughs just in the past few years—first, with generative AI, and since this year with vastly more sophisticated agentic AI—open possibilities for which they have long been waiting.
“What is very new today is what we call the ‘what if’ scenarios,” says Alain Arnaud, head of the Digital Ocean department for Mercator, a European Union intergovernmental institution of ocean scientists who have created a “digital twin of the ocean”—a forensic baseline examination of the global seas.
Depicted on a giant live-tracking monitor mounted in the conference’s public exhibition space, the “digital twin” shows dots of 9 billion or so data points beamed up to satellites from underwater cameras. While that type of data is not necessarily new, innovation in AI finally allows Mercator to game out dizzyingly complex scenarios in split-second timing. “Is my tuna here? If I fish in this area, at this period, what’s the impact on the population? Is it better in that area?” Arnaud says, standing in front of the live tracker, as he described just one situation.
Until now, turning vast quantities of data into policy and actions has been dauntingly expensive and lengthy for most governments, not to mention the nonprofit environmental organizations and startups that have poured into Nice this week.
But now, some say the focus on oceans could open a whole new tech front, as countries and companies try to figure out how to reduce their environmental impact and as AI applications proliferate.
As the UN Ocean Conference opens in France, a push to turn promises into protection
June 9, 2025 — The third U.N. Ocean Conference opened Monday as pressure mounts for nations to turn decades of promises into real protection for the sea.
The conference comes as just 2.7% of the ocean is effectively protected from destructive extractive activities, according to the nonprofit Marine Conservation Institute. That’s far below the target agreed under the “30×30” pledge to conserve 30% of land and sea by 2030.
Atop this year’s agenda is ratification of the High Seas Treaty . Adopted in 2023, the treaty would for the first time allow nations to establish marine protected areas in international waters, which cover nearly two-thirds of the ocean and are largely ungoverned.
Next set of UN Global Plastics Treaty negotiations slated for August
June 5, 2025 — The next round of United Nations negotiations (INC-5.2) aiming to create a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty will take place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 5 to 14 August, following the failure of INC-5 to reach an agreement.
The conclusion of INC-5, which took place 25 November to 1 December 2024 in Busan, South Korea, and was supposed to be the final draft meeting, ended with a number of unresolved issues that contributed to the lack of consensus and delay in forming the treaty, according to Ocean Conservancy Vice President of Conservation for Ocean Plastics Nicholas Mallos.
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