For most of history the high seas — the nearly two-thirds of the ocean that lies beyond any nation's jurisdiction — have been effectively ungoverned, open to fishing, shipping and the prospect of seabed mining with no mechanism to set any of it aside. On 17 January 2026, after nearly two decades of negotiation, that changed: the High Seas Treaty, formally the BBNJ Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, entered into force, having passed the threshold of 60 ratifications the previous September.
The treaty, now international law, gives the world for the first time a way to create marine protected areas in the open ocean, to require environmental-impact assessments for activities beyond national waters, and to share the benefits of marine genetic resources. It is the missing instrument behind the global pledge to protect 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030. It is not, by itself, a protected ocean: the rules of implementation fall to the treaty's first Conference of the Parties, the United States has not ratified, and a framework only matters once it is used. But after twenty years, the high seas finally have a rulebook — and that is the news.
Sources
The treaty and its entry into force. The 17 January 2026 entry into force, the September 2025 ratification threshold, the scope of the high seas covered, and the treaty's core provisions (high-seas MPAs, environmental-impact assessments, benefit-sharing) are drawn from the UN's BBNJ Agreement materials, the High Seas Alliance, the European Commission's oceans and fisheries service, and an explainer from the World Resources Institute. The US ratification status is drawn from the Congressional Research Service.
Location: Sargasso Sea — 30.0° N, 60.0° W
About these sources
United Nations — BBNJ Agreement (official)
High Seas Alliance — Historic High Seas Treaty enters into force
World Resources Institute — High Seas Treaty explainer
European Commission — High Seas Treaty enters into force: A milestone for ocean conservation
Congressional Research Service — The BBNJ Agreement (or High Seas Treaty)
Further reading — including dissenting views
For the case that entry into force is the beginning rather than the achievement — that protection depends on implementation decisions still to be made, on broader membership, and that major powers including the United States remain outside the treaty — see the WRI explainer and the Congressional Research Service overview (both linked above).