Historic un treaty takes effect, bringing legal protection to 60% of earth’s ocean for the first time

For centuries, the vast expanse of ocean beyond national borders—known as the high seas—has operated as a legal no-man’s land. These waters, stretching beyond the 200-nautical-mile limits of any country’s jurisdiction, have been governed by a patchwork of customs and fragmented rules based on the outdated belief that the ocean was too immense to manage and too resilient to damage.

That era officially ended on January 17, 2026, when the United Nations’ Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) accord entered into force. This groundbreaking treaty represents the first comprehensive global framework specifically designed to protect marine life in international waters—an area covering roughly 60% of the world’s oceans and more than 40% of Earth’s surface.

The urgency for such protection has become undeniable. Modern fishing fleets now venture farther from shore and remain at sea longer than ever before. Shipping routes have transformed into crowded maritime highways. Growing interest in deep-sea mining threatens fragile seabed ecosystems, while advancing technology for extracting marine genetic resources has outpaced the regulatory frameworks meant to govern them.

The BBNJ treaty establishes crucial new powers: creating marine protected areas on the high seas, requiring environmental impact assessments for new industrial activities, setting rules for sharing benefits from marine genetic resources, and promoting technology transfer to developing nations. While implementing these provisions will take years of detailed work, the legal foundation is now in place to protect the deep trenches, underwater mountain chains, and mid-ocean ecosystems that regulate global nutrient cycles and store massive amounts of carbon.