We did it.
Today, the international treaty for the protection of the high seas and marine biodiversity comes into force.
It is an immense victory for the oceans, for life, for humanity.
The high seas will no longer be a Wild West left to predation: it becomes a space of shared responsibility.
From 8 countries in 2024, then 60 States committed in 2025 at the Nice Ocean Summit, to 83 today, the community of nations has kept its word.
Together, we are giving ourselves the means to protect 30% of the seas and oceans by 2030, which is more than half of the total surface area of our planet.
It is the fruit of an exceptional collective mobilization carried by negotiators, scientists, citizens, all convinced that the future is built together. I want to thank them for it.
It is the choice of responsibility in the face of indifference, of cooperation in the face of withdrawal, the honor of humanity in the face of the world’s disorder.
When we come together around what is essential, we prove that progress is possible. So let us continue. Together.
: Emmanuel Macron
President of France