BRUSSELS - A year after a historic treaty to protect the high seas was opened to signatures, it has now received 13 ratifications -- leaving it still far from coming into force.
The treaty, which took 15 years of tough negotiating to be approved, aims to protect vital marine ecosystems that are threatened by pollution. It requires 60 ratifications before coming into force.
UN members finalized it in March 2023, then formally adopted it. The treaty received 70 signatures in last year's United Nations flagship week -- not ratifications, but indications of willingness to ratify it eventually.
That number has now reached 104.
Five new countries -- East Timor, Singapore, the Maldives, Bangladesh and Barbados -- ratified the treaty during this high-level week of the UN General Assembly, bringing total ratifications to 13.
Campaign groups still hope the treaty will come into force in 2025, but say ratifications are badly lagging.
"Whilst this week's progress is welcome, there is a sense of complacency from some countries, and we would have expected more to have taken the opportunity of ratifying this week," environmental campaigners Greenpeace said.
"It is important that political momentum is kept high and countries finalize their ratification processes as soon as possible."