The ratification by more than 60 states, the minimum required to turn the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (better known as the High Seas Treaty) into law, means it will enter into force on January 17.
The treaty covers nearly two-thirds of the ocean – an area of sea and seabed outside the national jurisdiction of any country, which has come under growing pressure from mining, fishing and geoengineering interests, with climate change a compounding factor.
