On 17 January 2026, the High Seas Treaty, formally the Agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), entered into force, establishing the first legally binding framework for protecting marine life in international waters. Eighty-one nations have ratified the agreement, including China, Germany, Japan, France and Brazil. The UK has not yet ratified, though enabling legislation was introduced in 2025.
For marine researchers, the treaty governs nearly half the planet’s surface and 95% of the ocean’s volume. It establishes mechanisms for creating marine protected areas on the high seas, regulating exploitation of marine genetic resources, conducting environmental impact assessments, and sharing benefits from ocean science.
What the treaty does
The BBNJ Agreement addresses four core elements: marine genetic resources and benefit-sharing, area-based management tools (including marine protected areas), environmental impact assessments, and capacity-building and technology transfer.
Marine genetic resources, biological materials from deep-sea organisms used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food supplements, proved contentious during negotiations. The treaty applies the “common heritage of mankind” principle, requiring equitable benefit-sharing. For UK researchers involved in high seas bioprospecting or marine biotechnology, the status of benefit-sharing obligations remains unclear without UK ratification.
The treaty also provides the first formal mechanism for creating marine protected areas beyond national jurisdiction. While some voluntary MPAs exist in high seas regions, the BBNJ establishes a structured process for proposing, evaluating and designating protected areas. Area-based management tools under BBNJ build on existing scientific frameworks, including the Convention on Biological Diversity’s process for identifying Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) and FAO guidance on fisheries measures that deliver conservation outcomes. These provide tested methodologies for integrating spatial fisheries management with biodiversity objectives without undermining fisheries governance.
Who’s in, who’s not
Besides the UK, other major economies outside the agreement include the United States, India and Russia. The US signed in September 2023 and President Biden transmitted it to the Senate in December 2024, but ratification remains pending. India adopted the treaty but hasn’t completed domestic legislation. Russia has neither adopted nor ratified.
The UK introduced enabling legislation in 2025, meaning ratification requires parliamentary action. No timeline has been announced.
Practical research questions
The UK’s current non-participation raises several practical questions for researchers:
The BBNJ establishes a Clearing-House Mechanism for sharing data, capacity and technology. Fisheries data systems are central to this process—offering ecological data, catch and effort information, stock assessments, and spatial planning experience. However, much fisheries data is subject to confidentiality rules set by national law, FAO standards, and regional fisheries body agreements. The CHM is designed to facilitate selective, reciprocal data sharing while safeguarding confidentiality and ensuring interoperability with existing fisheries systems. For UK institutions, questions arise around whether they can participate in developing these data-sharing protocols and standards, and how reciprocal arrangements work in collaborations when UK partners operate outside the treaty framework.
The treaty creates committees on access and benefit-sharing, capacity-building, finance, and compliance, and a Scientific and Technical Body, all reporting to the Conference of the Parties. The Scientific and Technical Body will provide scientific assessments, technical advice, and peer review of submissions to ensure COP decisions are informed by best available science. UK researchers will have no formal role in these bodies unless the UK ratifies.
For international collaborations, the framework becomes ambiguous. When UK institutions collaborate with partners from ratifying nations on high seas research, questions arise around data-sharing protocols, intellectual property from marine genetic resources, and benefit-sharing obligations.
The treaty’s environmental impact assessment provisions could affect UK research expeditions, sampling programmes, or experimental installations in international waters. How these assessments apply to UK-led research without UK participation in the treaty’s governing structures remains unclear.
The COP1 timeline
The first Conference of the Parties (COP1) must convene by January 2027. This meeting will finalise implementation details: governance structures, scientific advisory arrangements, compliance mechanisms, and funding systems. The Preparatory Commission meets again in March-April 2026 to develop recommendations.
These negotiations will establish operational procedures: how high seas MPAs are proposed and evaluated, how environmental impact assessments are conducted, what data-sharing requirements apply to research, and how benefits from marine genetic resources are calculated and distributed. Fisheries bodies and research institutions globally are being encouraged to secure observer roles and expert participation in BBNJ bodies early, to shape emerging standards for ABMTs, EIAs, and coordination mechanisms. Engagement during these foundational stages determines how operational frameworks develop.
Non-party countries can participate in COP1 as observers but cannot vote on decisions. This affects the UK’s ability to influence how these operational frameworks develop.
Research funding and collaboration
The BBNJ creates funding mechanisms for capacity-building and technology transfer (CBTMT) to support developing nations, particularly Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries, in participating in high seas governance and research. CBTMT aims to build institutional and scientific capacity in specific areas: training in risk assessment and ecosystem-based fisheries management, technology transfer for biodiversity monitoring and data collection, support for data system interoperability, and institutional development for engaging in ABMT designation and EIA procedures.
UK institutions have established expertise in ecosystem-based management, marine spatial planning, and biodiversity assessment—areas directly relevant to CBTMT priorities. The framework positions research institutions as both users and providers of marine technology and knowledge. However, access to these mechanisms and formal roles in delivering CBTMT programmes for non-party institutions requires clarification. This has particular relevance given several UK Overseas Territories are Small Island Developing States with significant marine interests.
The treaty establishes frameworks for incorporating scientific and traditional knowledge into decision-making. UK marine scientists have relevant expertise in ecosystem-based management, marine spatial planning, and biodiversity assessment. Formal input to treaty bodies requires party status.
Timing considerations
The treaty remains open for ratification. The UK’s enabling legislation exists; ratification requires parliamentary action. However, early implementation decisions and precedents set at initial COPs will shape how the treaty operates. Influence over these foundational frameworks depends on participation in current negotiations.
The BBNJ creates new governance structures for two-thirds of the ocean. For UK researchers working in international waters or collaborating on high seas projects, the operational implications of the UK’s current non-party status will become clearer as implementation frameworks develop through 2026 and the first COP in 2027.