World leaders back ocean treaty and new marine reserves, but critics say action still lags

The United Nations Ocean Summit in France ended with pledges to ratify a treaty protecting international waters, but world leaders faced pushback for slow progress and weak commitments on key issues like bottom trawling and deep-sea mining.

Karen McVeigh reports for The Guardian.

In short:

• Sixty heads of state and 190 ministers met in Nice for the UN ocean summit, where France announced that the high seas treaty is expected to take effect by January 2026.
• Four new nations joined calls for a ban or moratorium on deep-sea mining, while 90 ministers supported a strong global plastics treaty ahead of negotiations in August.
• Critics, including Pacific island leaders and ocean advocates, said rich nations, especially France, fell short in addressing destructive fishing practices like bottom trawling.

Key quote:

“President Macron promised action on bottom trawling in marine protected areas but delivered only artificial limits and empty words.”

— Alexandra Cousteau, adviser to Oceana and granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau

Why this matters:

Oceans are central to life on Earth, producing over half the oxygen we breathe and absorbing much of the planet’s carbon dioxide. But decades of industrial overfishing, pollution, warming, and climate-driven acidification have pushed marine ecosystems toward collapse. Bottom trawling, a fishing method that scrapes the ocean floor, destroys habitats vital to biodiversity and carbon storage. Deep-sea mining threatens to scar untouched seafloors before their ecological value is even understood. While marine protected areas and international treaties offer hope, only a fraction of the ocean is currently safeguarded. Without enforceable limits and meaningful investment, rhetoric at high-level summits risks becoming a substitute for action, leaving frontline nations and future generations to bear the cost of marine decline.

Read more: Global effort to protect international waters nears milestone as more countries back UN ocean treaty