Overview

• Over a dozen countries ratified the High Seas Treaty at the Nice conference, bringing the total close to the 60 needed to activate protections for international waters by September 2025.
• Germany must pass two domestic laws to complete its ratification and secure the treaty’s entry into force.
• Ninety-five states backed proposals to cap primary plastic production and enforce reporting requirements, setting the stage for resumed negotiations in Geneva in August 2025.
• Thirty-seven nations, including Germany, supported a precautionary moratorium on deep-sea mining, challenging President Donald Trump’s April decree that allows the United States to pursue seabed mineral extraction unilaterally.
• The next UN Ocean Conference is scheduled for 2028 in South Korea and Chile.