The High Seas Treaty Is in Force. Here Is the Work Ahead.
World / Ocean governance The high seas have a treaty. Now comes the work. Four connected systems will determine what the BBNJ Agreement delivers before—and after—its first COP. October 27, 2026 NEWJINMEDIA editorial team · Public-source reporting Archival fieldwork, 2021: Deep Discoverer crosses a ferromanganese-nodule field on Gosnold Seamount. The photograph illustrates observation at depth, not a treaty-designated protected area. Credit: NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2021 North Atlantic Stepping Stones . The treaty is in force. The machinery is still being built. The High Seas Treaty’s 2026 rules are in force. What the first COP must decide about protected areas, research benefits and impact reviews. The BBNJ Agreement entered into force on January 17, 2026. Its first Conference of the Parties is scheduled for January 11–22, 2027, at United Nations headquarters in New York. That leaves an important interval between the legal starting gun and the first meeting of the treaty’s governing bod...