As governments head to a major UN ocean conference next week, the race is on to get enough countries to ratify an international treaty seen as crucial to meeting a goal of protecting 30% of the world’s seas by 2030 so that it can take effect within two years of its adoption in 2023.
So far, of the 60 states needed for that to happen, only 29 have ratified the agreement, known as the High Seas Treaty but formally titled Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ). The treaty aims to create rules for establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) in international waters.
Establishing those MPAs is seen as key to conserving 30% of the world’s land and sea ecosystems by the end of this decade, as countries pledged to do at talks in Montreal in 2022. Experts say MPAs can also help oceans recover their ability to store planet-heating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the atmosphere, which has been weakening in the past two decades.
According to the UN, the world’s ocean absorbs 30% of all CO2 emissions and captures 90% of the excess heat generated by these emissions, serving as a vital buffer against the impacts of climate change. However, rising greenhouse gas emissions have affected the health of the ocean by warming and acidifying seawater – in turn harming biodiversity and and reducing the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2.
Back when the High Seas Treaty was adopted, countries set a political target for it to enter into force within two years, in time for the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), which begins on June 9.
As the number of new ratifications has picked up pace in recent months, experts said they hope the UN conference in the French city of Nice can provide momentum to achieve the 60 countries required. Once that threshold has been reached, the treaty will enter into force 120 days later.
“I’ll be realistic and not say that we’ll definitely get there at UNOC – but I think we’ll certainly get some of the way,” Angelique Pouponneau, advisor to the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), told journalists. “With the UN General Assembly just a few months later, I think it looks very promising.”
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Islands among early adopters
The first movers that have already ratified the treaty include small island states like Palau and Seychelles, both co-chairs of a high-ambition coalition for the agreement, as well as six EU member countries including France, Portugal and Spain. Another 87 states have signed up to the treaty without ratifying it in national legislation, meaning they are not bound by it.
Rebecca Hubbard, director of the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of campaign groups following the treaty process, said that “many governments are going through last-minute efforts for parliamentary approvals or cabinet and ministry approvals”, adding that she hoped up to 20 new ratifications would be announced in the coming days.
The High Seas Treaty, once in effect, would provide a legal path for establishing Marine Protected Areas, as well as requiring environmental impact assessments for economic activities in international waters. But deep-sea mining for minerals – which scientists fear could significantly impact the ocean floor and its ecosystems – is exempt because it is already regulated separately by the International Seabed Authority.
A 2024 report by a group of NGOs and funders shows that currently about 8% of the ocean is covered by some level of protection, but only 2.8% is “effectively” protected, meaning there are rules and controls in place to prevent harmful activities.
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“Weak” declaration
At the upcoming UN Ocean Conference, countries are set to adopt a political declaration which calls on governments to step up their efforts to “defend ocean ecosystems”. The declaration also “encourages” countries to ratify the High Seas Treaty.
But campaign groups have criticised it as tame on a number of issues, including a lack of urgency in calling for treaty ratification, “pitifully weak” language on deep-sea mining and scant new financial commitments.
“The UN Ocean Conference was supposed to be the moment when governments turned the tide, and showcased genuine progress,” said Megan Randles, Greenpeace’s head of delegation for UNOC. “Instead, we are handed a weak political declaration with glaring omissions.”
On finance, the declaration recognises the role of “blue bonds” – debt instruments allowing governments to raise funds for marine projects – and also calls for accelerating blended finance and private finance towards ocean conservation. But it falls short of setting specific financial targets.
A new report launched this week by a coalition of nature NGOs and funders – among them Bloomberg Ocean Fund, Campaign for Nature and WWF – warns that, while $1.2 billion a year currently flows to ocean protection efforts, actual needs reach $15.8 billion annually.
Stronger links with climate action
The UNOC declaration also avoids any mention of the role of fossil fuels in driving climate change, and does not include an existing global commitment, made at UN climate talks, to “transition away” from fossil fuels in energy systems, which campaigners have urged for.
The World Resources Institute, a US-based think-tank, has also urged countries to use the Nice conference to commit to including ocean-based measures to cut emissions and adapt to a warmer world in their next round of national climate plans (NDCs) due this year.
So far such measures have been largely absent from the NDCs, WRI said this week, calling on UNOC to send a clear message to November’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil around the need to change this if global climate goals are to be met.
WRI cited research from the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy showing that ocean-based climate solutions – including offshore renewable energy, sustainable shipping, and protection and restoration of “blue carbon” ecosystems like mangroves and seagrass – could deliver up to 35% of the emissions reductions needed by 2050 to keep global temperature rise below 1.5C.
