A multinational treaty to protect vast expanses of the world's oceans is finally set to become law in January 2026, with environmentalists hailing its enactment Friday as crucial to safeguarding the marine ecosystems.

The move by Morocco and Sierra Leone to join the UN treaty on the high seas clinched the threshold of at least 60 ratifications needed to enact it as international law.

The law aims to protect biodiverse areas in waters worldwide that lie in waters beyond countries' exclusive economic zones.

Teeming with plant and animal life, the oceans are responsible for creating half of the globe's oxygen supply and are vital to combatting climate change, conservationists say.

But those same waters are threatened by pollution and overfishing. They also face growing challenges from dee

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