Less than one percent of the high seas was protected in any form before this year. Yet international waters beyond national jurisdiction cover two-thirds of all ocean surface and 95 percent of ocean volume. On January 17, 2026, the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, or BBNJ Agreement, entered into force. It is the first legally binding global framework for high seas protection after more than 20 years of negotiation.
What was missing before the treaty
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) from 1982 governs ocean use and defines exclusive economic zones extending 200 nautical miles from coast. Beyond that boundary lay the high seas, where no comparable protection tool existed. Fisheries agreements, shipping rules, regulations on seabed mineral resources: all were bilateral or governed by specialized UN bodies. What was absent was a mechanism to formally designate marine protected areas on the high seas and multilaterally monitor their enforcement.
Despite broad political consensus, ratification by 60 countries took two years longer than expected. Morocco became the 60th ratifying state on September 19, 2025, triggering the treaty mechanism and setting January 2026 for entry into force. The European Union had ratified early and serves as one of the agreement's primary institutional drivers.
What the treaty now enables
The BBNJ Agreement creates three essential instruments. First, signatory states can designate marine protected areas on the high seas that regulate shipping, fishing, and economic activities. Second, it introduces environmental impact assessments for high seas activities that currently proceed without such review. Third, it governs access to and use of marine genetic resources: organisms and compounds from the deep sea increasingly valuable for medicine and industry.
The overarching political goal is the 30x30 commitment: by 2030, 30 percent of all oceans should be protected, a target endorsed by 196 countries at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming-Montreal 2022. Currently, the World Database on Protected Areas records roughly 8 to 10 percent of oceans under some form of protection, with fewer than three percent fully protected. To reach 30 percent by 2030, roughly 20 percentage points of new protected areas must be designated in the next four years, an area roughly three times larger than all currently protected ocean areas combined.
In comparison: How multilateral environmental treaties function
The Montreal Protocol of 1987 stands as the benchmark for effective multilateral environmental protection. It banned ozone-depleting substances (CFCs) with binding phase-out schedules and financial mechanisms for developing countries. Result: CFC concentrations in the stratosphere have declined since 2000, the ozone hole is measurably recovering, and according to a 2023 WMO assessment, it should close completely by 2066. The protocol worked because it linked concrete substance bans with clear deadlines and financing commitments.
Comparing CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species from 1975, reveals a second dimension. CITES regulates international trade in endangered species and now has 183 signatory states. Its enforcement remains patchy because oversight rests with national authorities. The high seas treaty faces the same enforcement constraints: ships sail under flags of countries that may not have ratified or may not enforce controls consistently.
What could cause the high seas treaty to fail
The agreement creates a framework but not automatic protected areas. The first conference of parties (COP) should be convened within a year of entry into force. There, specific marine protected areas must be proposed, negotiated, and decided. Every single protected area requires consensus among signatory states, a process that in practice is lengthy.
A structural problem is the absence of major maritime powers among current ratifying states. The United States has not yet ratified the BBNJ Agreement, nor have several other countries with large fishing fleets. Without their participation, protection rules do not apply to ships under these flags. This substantially limits actual protective effect, even though third-country vessels can and do operate in protected areas without legal consequence.
Finally, the question of marine genetic resources remains open. Pharmaceutical companies and research institutions from wealthy countries have for years harvested organisms from the deep sea for profit. The agreement provides for benefit-sharing with developing countries, but the mechanism's details are to be set at the COP. How generous it proves will partly determine whether poorer nations remain committed to the agreement long-term.