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UN High Seas Treaty Clears 60 Ratifications, Takes Effect Jan. 17, 2026

The next phase focuses on rules, financing, oversight to turn the framework into enforceable protections.

FILE - Fish swim at Havannah Harbour, off the coast of Efate Island, Vanuatu, July 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag, File)
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FILE - Coral is visible in the protected area of France's Porquerolles National Park ahead of the U.N. Ocean Conference on June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag, File)
The research ship MV Anuanua Moana is pictured at a port in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, during an expedition to far-flung South Pacific waters in June 2025, spearheading efforts to dredge the tropical waters for industrial deep-sea mining.

Overview

  • Morocco’s deposit as the 60th ratification triggered the treaty’s entry into force on Jan. 17, 2026 after a 120‑day countdown, the United Nations confirmed.
  • The agreement, the first legally binding framework for international waters, enables high‑seas marine protected areas, requires environmental impact assessments, and sets benefit‑sharing and capacity‑building provisions.
  • A first Conference of the Parties must be convened within one year of entry into force, and only countries that ratify before that meeting will have voting rights on implementation and financing.
  • Enforcement will rely on flag states and existing regional bodies rather than a new punitive authority, heightening calls for broad participation as the U.S., China, Russia and Japan have not ratified.
  • Experts caution that operational steps will take years, with some estimating initial high‑seas protected areas late this decade, while UN‑backed preparatory bodies continue shaping governance details.