Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
“Intensely frustrating” – that’s how one guest describes the slow progress of the UK towards ratifying the UN High Seas Treaty.
On this episode of Committee Corridor, host Toby Perkins MP explores how the UK could help tackle the threats facing the world’s oceans, following the UN Ocean Conference in June 2025.
Much of the world’s ocean is unregulated, leaving vulnerable habitats unprotected from threats of pollution, unsustainable fishing and damaging practices such as deep-sea mining. The High Seas Treaty is critical to establishing marine protected areas in international waters but needs to be ratified by 60 states before it can come into force. The UK signed it in 2023 but has fallen behind other countries in ratifying it – the guests in this episode consider why.
Join Toby as he sits down with Fiona Thomas, Head of Public Affairs at the leading environmental charity, the Marine Conservation Society, to consider the UK’s progress on pressing marine concerns of bottom trawling, ‘forever chemicals’ and global targets such as 30×30 (to protect and conserve at least 30% of the world’s land, freshwater and ocean by 2030).
There is a very real risk that rising sea levels will cause some of the world’s most vulnerable countries to disappear underwater by the end of this century. Sarah Champion MP, Chair of the International Development Committee, describes how Small Island Developing States are particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change and need the world to notice.
Finally, Toby hears from Pippa Heylings, a fellow MP from the Environmental Audit Committee, about the evidence and outcomes of the Committee’s recent report on Governing the Marine Environment.
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Links:
Find out more about the Committee Corridor podcast: https://www.parliament.uk/business/commons/committee-corridor-podcast/
The Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry into Governing the Marine Environment: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8759/governing-the-marine-environment/
The International Development Committee’s work on UK Small Island Developing States Strategy: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7641/uk-small-island-developing-states-strategy/news/201157/small-island-developing-states-at-existential-risk-need-reliable-international-partners-will-the-uk-step-up/
Find out more about the Marine Conservation Society: https://www.mcsuk.org/
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Chapters:
00:00:00 – Welcome
00:02:14 – Fiona Thomas
00:14:11 – Sarah Champion MP
00:24:47 – Pippa Heylings MP