High Seas Treaty makes progress with global signatories at UN ocean governance summit
Published on 30th June 2025
The UN marine biodiversity conference has helped move the treaty closer to ratification although it is not there yet
Global attention turned to the city of Nice in early June, where nearly 200 countries gathered at the UN Oceans Conference to tackle the mounting threats facing the deep seas and oceans.
A central focus of the discussions was the urgent call to accelerate ratification of the "High Seas Treaty" – an agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction – which is also known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction or BBNJ Agreement.
The conference and making progress to ratify the High Seas Treaty comes at a critical time. With escalating climate risks, ocean degradation and the threat of deep-sea mining, international cooperation is essential to protect marine ecosystems that lie beyond a country's national jurisdiction. The High Seas Treaty aims to protect the ocean by designating 30% of international waters as protected marine areas and establishing legal frameworks for the conservation and equitable use of marine genetic resources.
High Seas Treaty
Adopted on 19 June 2023 after nearly two decades of negotiations, the High Seas Treaty fills a long-standing gap in ocean governance. While UNCLOS provides a foundational legal framework for maritime activity, it lacks provisions specifically addressing beyond marine genetic resources and digital sequence information national jurisdiction, access to which is becoming increasingly essential for growth industries such as engineering biology.
The treaty introduces mechanisms for the establishment of marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments for activities on the high seas, and equitable access and benefit sharing mechanisms for marine genetic resources and digital sequence information.
Existing governance
The treaty strengthens the global ocean governance regime and complements existing agreements under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) such as the Nagoya Protocol, which governs access and benefit sharing relating to tangible genetic materials within national boundaries (as opposed to digital genetic data, which is another issue recently sought to be addressed by the voluntary Cali Fund).
The UK's Regulatory Horizons Council has emphasised the need for existing agreements to be implemented in an appropriate way so that "access and benefit sharing can be as impactful as possible without hindering science, research and innovation in the UK", as well as a need to increase understanding of existing responsibilities. The same logic will need to extended to the implementation of the responsibilities under the High Seas Treaty once it is ratified.
Conference progress
Prior to the conference, hopes of the treaty progressing were dwindling with only 27 out of the 60 necessary countries having formally ratified. However, the conference has revitalised global aspirations. As of mid-June, 51 countries have ratified the treaty and over a dozen more – including the and reportedly South Africa, have pledged to do so by the end of 2025. At the end of the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron projected that the treaty will enter into force in early 2026 on the basis of existing and promised ratifications.
The conference also witnessed financial pledges aimed at supporting treaty implementation. The European Union committed €40 million to its Global Ocean Programme, while development banks, such as the European Investment Bank and the Asian Development Bank, announced plans to invest €3 billion by 2030 to support ocean sustainability efforts.
The UK government has confirmed that it will introduce legislation by the end of 2025 to ratify the treaty. Marine minister Emma Hardy announced that a bill will be tabled before the end of this year.
Despite this progress at the conference, the US did not participate. The previous administration had indicated a willingness to sign up to the treaty despite the US not having ratified UNCLOS or the CBD; however, the current administration has not indicated the same willingness and is accelerating the US's deep-sea mining operations.
Treaty ratification
Once the 60 required countries ratify the treaty, a 120-day countdown will commence, leading to it coming into effect. However, ratifying countries will need to embark on implementing obligations into national law, which may well be a lengthy process in many cases.
Within a year of the treaty coming into force, the secretary-general of the UN will convene the inaugural meeting of the conference of parties for the treaty. Following which, the conference of parties will meet at regular intervals to make decisions on measures for the protection of the high seas.
Osborne Clarke comment
The High Seas Treaty marks a paradigm shift in how the international community governs marine biodiversity and access to marine resources outside of national borders. For companies engaged in marine biotechnology, genetic research and sustainable innovation, the treaty will create new responsibilities once implemented into national law.
The ratification process appears to be moving faster than perhaps initially anticipated; however, progress may well slow down when it comes to ratifying countries implementing the treaty's obligations into national law. Once the treaty comes into effect, those companies involved in accessing and using marine genetic resources and digital-sequence information from beyond national jurisdictions will know that new access and benefits sharing obligations will be forthcoming. At this stage, it will be important to keep up to date with the UK's progress in national implementation.
Given the UK government's fresh commitment to the engineering biology sector and its potential to generate economic growth, it is possible that the UK will want to proceed cautiously in implementing the access and benefits sharing obligations in the treaty so that this can be done in a way that is proportionate and understandable for industry and which does not cause disruption to scientific and industrial progress. To this end, it is likely that the government will work with the Regulatory Horizons Council and consult with industry directly.
Shereen Younis, a trainee solicitor with Osborne Clarke, contributed to this Insight.
