95bFM The High Seas Treaty approved by the UN after a decade in the making
1 October, 2025
Interview by Sara Mckoy, adapted by Vihan Dalal
The Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, more commonly known as the United Nations (UN) High Seas Treaty, was approved by the UN last week after meeting the 60-state threshold required to be implemented into law.
The legislation— ten years in the making — will outline new measures to ensure the protection of marine life in international waters. Countries will also be legally obligated to maintain high environmental standards when managing ocean resources.
The treaty will come into effect on the 17th of January 2026.
Victoria University of Wellington Law Professor Joanna Mossop told 95bFM’s Green Desk that one of the main reasons for the legislation only being passed after 10 years is due to overlapping interests with organisations already working to protect marine life.
“One of the key concerns that states had in agreeing to negotiate the convention is that they didn't want this new agreement to come in and override existing organisations and existing agreements, so that that would undermine the work that those organisations had been doing.”
She says negotiations involved countries relying on fishing as an economic activity, which had stretched out negotiations.
Despite the ratification of this treaty by 74 countries, the Government has not ratified this agreement.
Mossop says the main obstacle is creating legislation in line with the treaty.
“New Zealand law will have to change, for example, in making sure that New Zealand-flagged vessels comply with the rules of marine protected areas [and] making sure we have the right environmental impact assessment processes in place.”
She adds that ratifying the treaty is in New Zealand’s interests, as we can confront entities and countries that might seek to conduct drilling near our waters.
“If someone is planning to do some form of drastic geoengineering project, which is meant to address climate change, but [is] right on our doorstep, we now have an ability to have a say with the state that is proposing to do that activity.”
Despite Mossop saying the treaty itself is not a silver bullet for marine protection, she says its implementation is a “massive step” for the law of the sea.
“It's not going to by itself resolve questions about mining and fishing because they are already regulated in other places. But what it does do is it allows for states to have a greater consideration of the marine environment.
“And it also provides, for example, [that] if a marine protected area is created by this organisation, [that] states can take those recommendations to the sectoral bodies and argue strongly that the sectoral body should also put in place regulations to protect the environment more than they have.”
She says the treaty’s effectiveness will depend on how many countries that rely on fishing “sign up” to the treaty, and how willing they and other organisations are to amend their practices in the high seas.
However, she is positive about this treaty and its reception globally.
“ … there's a lot of work to do. However, I think there's a lot of optimism out there that there is an ability for the international community to do better in protecting the ocean.”
