U.N. adopts resolution to develop a high seas biodiversity treaty

Story: 2015 C.E.  |  Last updated: June 19, 2015

For the first time in decades, the world’s nations agreed by consensus to begin building a legally binding framework for protecting life in the open ocean — the vast, shared waters that belong to no single country and have long existed beyond the reach of meaningful international law.

Key findings

• High seas biodiversity treaty: Resolution 69/292, adopted by consensus at the U.N. General Assembly, formally launches a process to negotiate a legally binding international treaty to conserve marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
• Preparatory committee: A two-year PrepCom process beginning in 2016 C.E. will convene governments to draft the treaty’s core elements, with a decision on whether to hold a full intergovernmental conference expected by the end of 2017 C.E.
• Marine protected areas: Among the treaty’s likely components are area-based management tools including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, rules governing marine genetic resources, and frameworks for technology transfer to developing nations.

Why the high seas matter

The high seas — waters beyond any nation’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone — cover more than 60 percent of the ocean’s surface and nearly half the planet. They are home to extraordinary biodiversity, from deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities to vast migratory corridors used by whales, tuna, sharks, and seabirds.

Yet for most of modern history, governance of these waters has been fragmented at best. No single international body has had authority to create marine protected areas on the high seas, require environmental impact assessments for new activities, or regulate who can access and benefit from marine genetic resources. The result has been an international commons subject to overfishing, deep-sea mining proposals, pollution, and the growing pressures of a warming ocean — with limited legal tools to respond.

The U.N. Working Group that laid the groundwork for this resolution had been meeting since 2006 C.E., working through the complex jurisdictional, scientific, and economic questions that any new treaty would need to address. Its January 2015 C.E. recommendations gave the General Assembly a clear mandate to act.

What the resolution does

Resolution 69/292 formalizes the path toward a new international instrument under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, the foundational framework for ocean governance adopted in 1982 C.E. That convention established important principles but left significant gaps — particularly for the high seas.

The resolution directs governments to participate in a preparatory committee that will meet for a total of four weeks in both 2016 C.E. and 2017 C.E., exploring detailed proposals across four core areas: marine protected areas and other area-based management tools; environmental impact assessments; access to and benefit-sharing of marine genetic resources; and capacity building and technology transfer. The last of these is particularly significant for lower-income nations, which often lack the scientific infrastructure to participate equally in ocean governance.

The resolution also references the commitment made by world leaders at the Rio+20 Conference — the 2012 C.E. U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development — to take a decision on a new instrument by September 2015 C.E. That commitment had lingered unfulfilled for three years. This resolution finally honored it.

A long road from concept to consensus

The push for a high seas treaty did not emerge overnight. Civil society organizations, marine scientists, and ocean-focused diplomats had been building the case for years, arguing that the existing patchwork of international bodies — the International Maritime Organization, regional fisheries management organizations, the International Seabed Authority — could not adequately protect biodiversity across the open ocean.

The High Seas Alliance, a coalition of environmental organizations, played a central role in keeping political pressure on member states throughout the working group process. Their reaction to the resolution captured the mixed emotion of advocates who had worked long and hard toward a moment that was, as they noted, only the beginning: “only the first step toward achieving a wave of change in the way our ocean is governed.”

Notably, the resolution passed by consensus — meaning every U.N. member state, including major fishing nations and industrialized economies with commercial interests in the high seas, agreed to move forward. That unanimity was not guaranteed and represented a genuine diplomatic achievement.

Lasting impact

The resolution set in motion what would become the U.N. BBNJ Agreement — the treaty on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction — which was finally adopted in 2023 C.E. after years of negotiations. That agreement is considered the most significant advance in international ocean law since the Law of the Sea itself.

The framework that emerged from this process gives the international community legal tools to designate protected areas in international waters, require environmental impact assessments before industrial activities begin, and create fairer rules around who benefits when marine genetic resources — potentially including compounds with pharmaceutical applications — are discovered and commercialized.

For ocean scientists, the treaty process also helped catalyze a new wave of high seas research and biodiversity assessment, as governments recognized they needed better data to negotiate effectively. What began as a diplomatic process also accelerated scientific understanding of the ocean commons.

Blindspots and limits

Passing a resolution is not the same as protecting the ocean. The PrepCom process was slow and contentious, and even after the BBNJ Agreement was adopted in 2023 C.E., ratification by enough nations to bring it into force remained an ongoing challenge. Enforcement mechanisms in international waters are inherently difficult — no coast guard patrols the open ocean. The interests of large fishing nations, deep-sea mining companies, and biotechnology firms with stakes in marine genetic resources all create pressure against strong binding rules. The treaty framework represents real progress, but its promise depends entirely on what governments choose to do with it.

Read more

For more on this story, see: High Seas Alliance

For more from Good News for Humankind, see:

• Ghana establishes a marine protected area at Cape Three Points
• Indigenous land rights: 160 million hectares recognized ahead of COP30
• The Good News for Humankind archive on marine conservation

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