UN ocean treaty is ‘once in a lifetime’ chance to protect the high seas

Scientists say an agreement at the meeting in New York would allow for the creation of international marine protected parks. Photograph: Nadia Aly/Ocean Photography Awards/PA

The world has a “once in a lifetime” chance to protect the high seas from exploitation, warned scientists and environmentalists, as negotiators meet at the UN headquarters in New York this week to hammer out a new treaty on the oceans.

One scientist described the treaty, which will set out a legal framework to protect biodiversity and govern the high seas, as the most significant ocean protection agreement for four decades.