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The UK has ratified the High Seas Treaty, the international agreement that for the first time allows marine protected areas to be created in the ocean beyond national borders. The Foreign Secretary signed the document required for ratification, which was formally deposited with the United Nations in New York on 10 July, completing the final step of the process.
What the treaty covers
Formally the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, and the third implementing agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the treaty covers areas beyond national jurisdiction: the high seas and the deep seabed beyond countries’ exclusive economic zones, together close to two-thirds of the world’s ocean. These waters are rich in marine life but have long been largely unregulated, leaving them exposed to overfishing, pollution and unsustainable resource use.
The agreement is built around four main elements. It enables the creation of marine protected areas on the high seas; requires environmental impact assessments for activities that could significantly affect marine ecosystems in those waters; sets rules for the fair sharing of benefits from marine genetic resources, which have potential applications in medicine, cosmetics and biotechnology; and provides for capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology to developing states.
From signature to ratification
The agreement was adopted by UN member states in 2023 after nearly two decades of negotiations, and entered into force on 17 January 2026 once 60 countries had ratified. The UK helped shape the text and was among the first to sign in 2023, but ratifying required domestic legislation, the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act 2026, which received Royal Assent in February. Secondary legislation was also needed, including changes to the marine licensing regime to meet the treaty’s environmental impact assessment obligations.
With this step, the UK moves from being a signatory to a full party, joining more than 80 countries that have ratified. Not all major states have followed: the United States has signed but not ratified, and Russia has done neither.
What happens next
Ministers framed the ratification as a step towards the global target of protecting 30 per cent of the world’s ocean by 2030, a commitment under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Marine Minister Emma Hardy said the agreement gave the world, for the first time, the tools to create marine protected areas beyond national jurisdictions, and that she had been determined the commitment would lead to meaningful change since announcing at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference that the UK would legislate to enable it. Foreign Office minister Seema Malhotra said ratifying the agreement turned international ambition into action.
Much now depends on what follows. The first Conference of the Parties must convene within a year of entry into force, where governments will begin setting the rules that determine how protected areas are proposed, agreed and enforced. The UK has said it intends to play a leading role at that meeting and beyond.
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