The Extraordinary Network Of Women Fighting To Protect The High Seas

Campaigners with the High Seas Alliance gather to champion the High Seas Treaty, which comes into force on 17 January 2025.

High Seas Alliance

Over the course of my research and travels I have witnessed how shared values can inspire action. I have seen first hand how a chain of collaboration, empathy and persistence – often led by women – can turn seemingly immovable global challenges into collective movements for change. Something embodied by a value I call “mateship.”

Nowhere has this been more striking than in the critical fight for our ocean.

The High Seas – Critical to Survival

The abuse of the ocean through human activities, such as destructive fishing practices, pollution, shipping and emerging threats such as seabed mining, has long been treated as an afterthought in global governance. Out of sight, out of mind, and almost too vast and complex to tackle.

Yet during my visit to the Pacific late last year, I saw that in places like Tuvalu, Vanuatu and the Micronesian islands, the ocean is not an abstract concept. It embodies security, culture, ancestry and future survival.

In particular an area known as the “High Seas” is critical to the future of our world. These are the international waters that cover two-thirds of the ocean and nearly 50 per cent of the planet’s surface – part of a global commons governed collectively by all nations.

I was amazed to learn that the High Seas are one of our strongest allies against climate chaos. The ocean produces around half the oxygen we breathe, absorbs over 90 per cent of excess heat created from the burning of fossil fuels and supporting livelihoods and food security worldwide. Covering two thirds of the ocean, the High Seas play an outsized role.

Yet staggeringly, until now, most of these waters beyond national jurisdiction have had no comprehensive legal protection at all.

That changes on Saturday 17 January 2026, when the High Seas Treaty enters into force as international law.

Behind this monumental achievement – over two decades in the making – stands an extraordinary network whose influence has ricocheted across disciplines: from diplomacy to science, from activism to art.

Em Hoggett aka EM The Master – Changing Hearts and Minds Through Performance

I was introduced to plight of our ocean by Kathy Eldon, Founder of Creative Visions, who has supported the work of a critically acclaimed musician, actress, diver and environmental activist Em Hoggett – known on stage as EM The Master.

Em embodies that spirit perfectly. Her one-woman show DIVE is a 90-minute fusion of music, storytelling and ocean science, which premiered in London’s West End to rave reviews before she was invited, in partnership with the High Seas Alliance, during the United Nations General Assembly in New York during Climate Week. It marked the historic milestone of reaching 60 ratifications needed for entry into force of the High Seas Treaty.

Executive producers included six-time Tony Award winner Una Jackman. Using the power of humour, music and entertainment, Em’s work strives to affect audiences who may not usually engage with ocean conservation.

The true power of DIVE lies in its impact. Audience members report leaving the theatre deeply affected and fundamentally changed. That was certainly the case for me: reducing plastic use, rethinking consumption, and engaging more deeply in ocean conservation.

Rebecca Hubbard – Getting the High Seas Treaty Over the Line

Em’s incredible show features voices from the frontlines of marine science and policy, including Rebecca Hubbard, Director of the High Seas Alliance.

For Rebecca, the High Seas Treaty’s entry into force marks the culmination of more than two decades of relentless work by so many people- civil society, government officials, Indigenous People, scientists and young people.

An environmental scientist by training, Rebecca grew up on a farm in Australia, the daughter of a surfer, spending her childhood at the beach. She describes to me adoring the ocean long before she understood how close it was to collapse: 90 per cent of the world’s large fish gone, ecosystems pushed beyond their limits.

When the opportunity arose several years ago to engage in collective efforts to help drive the High Seas Treaty, Rebecca jumped at the chance, recognising it as the single greatest lever for global change.

Rebecca told me: “I saw the Treaty as the best opportunity to make the biggest impact on ocean conservation. I’ve been a campaigner for over 25 years, and it was clear this was the most important thing we could do for the ocean, and for our world.”

The High Seas Treaty – An Extraordinary Shared Consensus

Formally known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement, the High Seas Treaty is so historic because, for the first time, it creates a legal framework to protect life in the High Seas. It enables vast marine protected areas, requires environmental impact assessments for industrial activity, and embeds principles of equity and shared benefit.

The importance of the High Seas Treaty was recognised when it received the 2025 Earthshot Prize in the “Revive our Oceans” category.

In March 2023, after twenty years of negotiations, countries at the United Nations agreed on the text of the High Seas Treaty. By June, it was formally adopted. In record time, more than 80 nations ratified it, surpassing the 60 required for it to become binding international law – although Rebecca tells me that the US has yet to ratify, despite originally signing.

Rebecca describes the political will behind it as extraordinary in today’s fractured geopolitical climate. “Unlike many negotiations that feel like pushing endlessly uphill, the High Seas Treaty has generated rare and broad consensus. There is a shared sense that this is an opportunity to do something different,” she tells me.

Momentum to sign came from many regions: France in European Union; Palau, the first nation to ratify; Chile and Costa Rica in Latin America; Nigeria in Africa; the Philippines in Asia; and Singapore, with Singaporean Ambassador Rena Lee presiding over the final negotiations.

Kristina Gjerde – the Mother of the High Seas Treaty

Yet Rebecca is quick to say the story is not hers alone. The Treaty has many mothers.

Among the most influential was Dr Kristina Gjerde, senior advisor to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and one of the Treaty’s intellectual architects – often called the “mother of the High Seas Treaty.” For decades she patiently built the legal and scientific foundations that made this historic moment possible.

Sadly, Kristina passed away just after Christmas, just weeks before the Treaty came into force.

Peter Thomson, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, described her pursuit of protection as “calmly reasoned” and her dedication as unwavering – a fitting tribute to a life spent persuading governments to take responsibility for places beyond their borders, before damage became irreversible.

She did not live to see the Treaty in action; however its existence is her legacy.

Women as Champions of the High Seas Treaty

What strikes me is how many of the Treaty’s champions are women: scientists, lawyers, campaigners, political leaders, communicators and artists.

Why so many women?

Perhaps it is coincidence. Perhaps it is history correcting itself. Or perhaps it reflects a form of leadership grounded in the value of “mateship” rather than conquest.

This makes sense as the Treaty is about protection and fairness: equitable access to marine genetic resources, capacity-building for developing nations, and justice for communities whose lives depend on the sea.

Here, the spirit of “mateship” becomes global: cooperation, mutual responsibility and respect, and the understanding that no nation, no sector, no generation can safeguard the ocean alone.

Weaving the Threads of Change

It is a huge achievement that on 17 January, the High Seas Treaty becomes law.

Within a year, the world will convene its first Conference of the Parties (COP) in this area, to decide how this new framework will be implemented – which areas will be protected, how they will be managed, and how compliance will be enforced.

The High Seas Alliance will be celebrating the entry into force on 19 January, with a live webinar, featuring guest speakers including the President of Palau, UNDOALOS (United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law Of The Sea) Legal Counsel, Ms. Elinor Hammarskjöld and will include a performance by EM The Master, premiering an original song written in honour of the Treaty.

However before the work begins, it is worth pausing to honour the many threads that wove together to bring us here: the scientist who laid the legal groundwork, the campaigner who mobilised governments, the artist who translated data into emotion, and the network which amplified voices until the world listened.

In an era dominated by stories of division, the High Seas Treaty offers a different narrative: one of future hope, cooperation and collective courage.