The Treaty That Finally Gave the High Seas a Guardian

Beyond every country's 200-mile limit lies the high seas: roughly two-thirds of the ocean by area, governed by a patchwork of fisheries bodies with no mechanism to create marine protected areas. The High Seas Alliance formed in 2011 to fix that, growing into a coalition of more than 70 non-governmental members plus IUCN that pushed the UN through years of negotiation to adopt the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement in June 2023. It then ran a public ratification tracker and a country-by-country campaign until the 60th state deposited its instrument on 19 September 2025, triggering entry into force on 17 January 2026. The treaty is now binding law: high seas marine protected areas can finally be created, environmental impact assessments are required for activities in international waters, and the alliance won the Earthshot Prize for the effort in November 2025.