Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 23
23
Accepted
Government failure to legislate for ratifying Global Oceans Treaty is disappointing.
Conclusion
As a result of climate change, species are increasingly migrating into the high seas and global oceans. The movement of marine species beyond national jurisdictions poses significant challenges to conservation and sustainable management efforts highlighting the need for effective governance and protection of these areas. We are disappointed that the Government has not found time in the legislative timetable to introduce primary legislation to ratify the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction—the Global Oceans, or High Seas, Treaty. (Conclusion, Paragraph 87)
Government Response Summary
The government stated its complete commitment to ratifying the BBNJ Agreement and has committed to introducing the necessary legislation by the end of the year to implement it, ahead of ratification.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
As the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy MP, noted in his Kew lecture in September 2024, the Government is completely committed to ratifying the BBNJ Agreement.4 Furthermore, as announced by Defra’s Minister for Water and Flooding, Emma Hardy MP, in her speech at the Third United Nations Ocean Conference in June 2025 – the Government has committed to introduce the legislation by the end of the year, which is needed in order to implement the BBNJ Agreement ahead of ratification. The Government therefore partially agrees with this recommendation.