UK urged to ratify high seas treaty to avoid being shut out of Ocean Cop summit

A new mural in St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex celebrates the protections enforced by the high seas treaty. Photograph: Laura Lewis/Greenpeace

The UK risks being shut out of a historic oceans summit because parliament has failed to ratify the UN’s high seas treaty, environmental charities and campaigners have warned.

The high seas treaty, formally known as the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, comes into force on Saturday, after two decades of talks.