After almost two decades, the High Seas Treaty, also known as the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), entered into force on January 17, marking a significant milestone in global ocean protection and multilateral cooperation. The agreement provides a framework for the common governance of about half of the planet’s surface and 95 percent of the ocean’s volume, representing the largest habitat on our planet.
“Today marks a watershed moment for the ocean,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “This treaty establishes the first legal framework for conserving and sustainably using marine biodiversity in the two-thirds of the ocean that lie beyond national borders,” Guterres added. “In a world of accelerating crises – climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution – the Agreement fills a critical governance gap to secure a resilient and productive ocean for all. I commend the Parties to the Agreement and urge all States to join. Let us now move swiftly to universal and full implementation and honor the promises of the Agreement for people everywhere,” the Secretary General noted.
The agreement will make it possible to establish marine protected areas (MPAs) in the high seas; regulate the exploitation of marine genetic resources; assess the environmental impact of current and future human activities; and support developing countries through capacity-building and marine technology transfer programs. The Agreement has so far been ratified by 81 Parties, including the EU and 16 of its Member States, and signed by 145 countries. The U.S. signed the treaty in 2023, under then-President Biden, but it has not yet ratified it, and the Senate has not acted on it.
The EU and its Member States have led the political process and the negotiations of this agreement, whose conclusion and adoption in 2023 was a major success of multilateralism and a historic achievement in international law and ocean governance, the European Commission said in a press release.
On September 19, 2025, two years after its adoption, the agreement reached the required 60 UN member state ratification threshold for entry into force 120 days after, on January 17, 2026.
As Co-chair of the High Ambition Coalition on BBNJ, bringing together 46 countries, the EU remains strongly committed at the highest political level, the Commission said. The EU and its Member States are currently engaged in preparatory discussions for the first Conference of the Parties (COP) which will take place within a year after the entry into force of the BBNJ Agreement.
The EU has also pledged support for the Treaty’s implementation — particularly in developing countries — through the EU Global Ocean Program. The Global Ocean Program is an EU-funded program of €40 million which has been launched at the third UN Ocean Conference in June. Its first phase consists of €10 million, on-demand technical assistance that is already fully operational.
In addition, the EU is also a key contributor to the initial work of the BBNJ Secretariat hosted by DOALOS, the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea.
“As the BBNJ Agreement, entered into force on January 17, one must look into the power of multilateral environmental progress, in the tumultuous geopolitical landscape we are facing now,” Spyros Kouvelis, Member of the Board, EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters, told NE Global on January 19. “This agreement took almost 20 years of negotiations to be adopted, and its scope and potential is wide; from ensuring the health and resilience of ocean ecosystems to establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) on the high seas, to creating environmental impact assessment requirements for current and future human activities, among others,” Kouvelis said, adding, “In an age of disruption, I am hopeful that its implementation will be smoother and faster than its adoption.”
The BBNJ is designed to transform the “high seas” and international seabed into an environment to be managed sustainably for the benefit of all humanity.
It is also the first legally binding ocean instrument to provide for inclusive ocean governance, with something thrown in for almost everybody in typical UN style. It includes provisions on the engagement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and even on gender balance, the EU Commission said, adding, it is hoped that, once it is fully implemented, the Agreement will make a vital contribution to addressing the so-called “triple planetary crisis” of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.