Nations agree a historic treaty to protect the high seas

After nearly two decades of negotiations, nations reached a historic agreement this March to protect marine life in the high seas, the vast areas of ocean beyond any country's jurisdiction that cover nearly half the planet's surface yet have long lacked meaningful protection.

The treaty, concluded at the United Nations, provides a legal framework for establishing marine protected areas in international waters, a crucial tool for conserving ocean biodiversity. Until now, only a tiny fraction of the high seas had any protection, leaving them vulnerable to overfishing, shipping, pollution and the emerging threats of deep-sea mining.

The high seas are home to extraordinary and often little-understood ecosystems, from deep-sea corals to migrating whales, and play a vital role in regulating the climate and supporting fisheries. Yet their remoteness and the absence of clear governance had left them largely unguarded.

The agreement was seen as essential to achieving the recently agreed global goal of protecting 30 percent of the planet's land and seas by 2030, a target impossible to reach without safeguarding the high seas.

Campaigners who had fought for the treaty for years hailed it as a landmark for ocean conservation, while cautioning that the hard work of ratifying it, establishing actual protected areas and enforcing them lay ahead. Still, the deal marked a profound shift, extending the possibility of protection to the last great global commons and offering hope for the health of the oceans on which all life ultimately depends.