A half-planet-size gap in global governance is about to get plugged

A new treaty offers hope of curbing the destruction of the oceans.

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On land, humans' desire to protect the richness of natural life is as old as Eden; in its modern guise, terrestrial conservation dates back to the founding in 1872 of America's Yellowstone Park. In contrast, the desire to protect the seas' biological diversity is more recent. More often, the ocean has been viewed as a place of plunder or pursuit: a giant global commons, a free-for-all for fishermen and the last frontier for mineral wealth. Besides in Antarctica, no global treaty has managed conservation in the high seas — less than 1 per cent of which are formally protected.

Yet protection of the ocean beyond countries' national jurisdictions is about to take a big leap forward, when a new high-seas treaty, with 145 signatories and ratified by 81 and counting, comes into force on Jan 17.

The agreement reflects a growing awareness of accelerating declines in many species of fish, sharks, turtles, squid and more. It also signals an increased understanding of the ocean's importance in regulating the climate, since it is the planet's biggest carbon sink. The agreement also recognises that climate change and other man-driven factors such as pollution are harming the ocean's productivity, depleting the seas of oxygen, for instance, and harming the ability of the ocean to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Still, that such an agreement has been reached in an age when multilateralism is under attack elsewhere is striking (even though America has not signed up to it). Greenpeace, a campaigning group, plausibly describes the treaty as "the biggest conservation victory ever".

The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction agreement (BBNJ) covers all of the ocean outside countries' individual remit, usually defined by their 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).