67 countries sign UN ocean treaty

On Wednesday, 67 countries from around the world signed a new United Nations treaty surrounding the protection of the global oceans.

The ocean biodiversity treaty is part of the UN’s so-called 30 by 30 plan to protect 30% of the land and sea by the year 2030, and implements new measures to create no-fishing ocean sanctuaries and hold human activity in the ocean to environmental impact standards. 

Despite the dozens of signatures, the treaty will need to be ratified nationally before it officially enters effect.

“But this signing is a purely symbolic moment,” said Greenpeace International’s interim Executive Director Mads Christensen. “Now politicians must bring the treaty home and ensure it is ratified in record time.”