25 Jun 2024

Governments will meet at the United Nations HQ in New York this week to work on the UN Ocean Treaty, for the first time since it opened for signatures in September 2023. The Conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction treaty, also commonly known as the BBNJ or High […]

18 Jun 2024

The European Council – an institution of the 27-member European Union which defines the general political direction and priorities of the EU – has adopted a decision to conclude the United Nations agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), also known as the ‘High Seas Treaty’. With this decision, the EU is now ready to formally deposit […]

30 Apr 2024

The European Union has voted in favour of ratifying the UN High Seas Treaty. The treaty aims to protect marine life in areas that are outside of countries’ maritime borders including the high seas and the seabed. The high seas are areas of the ocean that lie beyond national boundaries, with only 1% of these […]

26 Sep 2023

A major new analysis of the threats facing the oceans has been released in a Greenpeace report: 30×30: From Global Ocean Treaty to Protection at Sea. The report also sets out a political roadmap to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030 – the United Nations’ 30×30 target – using the new Ocean Treaty.   © […]

18 Sep 2023

From 20 September, the UN’s high seas treaty will be open for signatures – an important moment that starts the process for nations to ratify it into their own laws. At least 60 countries must do so for the treaty to come into force. Scientists hope that it will finally allow marine protected areas (MPAs) […]

06 Mar 2023

In a historic breakthrough, United Nations members have finalised a landmark treaty in the international waters that lie outside any one country’s territory after nearly two decades of talks. The commonly referred to ‘High Seas Treaty’, or more fully the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ / ABNJ), is the […]

21 Feb 2023

After more than 15 years of formal and informal talks, this is the third time in less than a year that negotiators have converged on New York in what, yet again, is supposed to be a final and conclusive round of negotiations aimed at reaching a treaty to protect vast areas of the world’s ocean. […]

30 Aug 2022

Failure in efforts to create global ocean treaty A fifth effort to pass a global agreement to protect the world’s oceans and marine life has failed. Numerous news outlets, including the BBC, reported that talks to pass the UN High Seas Treaty had been ongoing for two weeks in New York, but governments could not agree […]