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The UN Ocean Summit has come to a close, but not before making significant headway on protecting the world’s oceans. Almost 200 countries met in Nice, France, for a five-day event that brought 15,000 participants, including 60 heads of state and government. Together, they addressed a wide range of issues regarding ocean conservation (including creating the world’s largest Marine Protected Area), but one of the most important measures of the summit’s success was progress made on the so-called High Seas Treaty.
One of the main objectives of the conference was to gather enough ratifications in order to put the High Seas Treaty into force. The treaty, first created in 2023 and officially called the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement, is a legal instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, also known as the high seas. Going into the conference, 27 countries had ratified, out of 60 required. As of Friday, that number had jumped to 50, with 19 more promising to join by the end of the year.
Though that might not seem like much, that’s actually a breakneck pace for a UN agreement as Elizabeth Wilson, senior director for environmental policy at environmental NGO The Pew Charitable Trust, explained to the BBC. “We have worked on many different treaties over the years and ratification often takes five years, seven years,” she said. “So the fact the High Seas Treaty is on the cusp of it entering into force really shows the global momentum behind working to protect more of the high seas.”
“We close this historic week not just with hope, but with concrete commitment, clear direction, and undeniable momentum,” Li Junhua, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary-General of the summit, told reporters.
