Iconic Ningaloo Reef on Australia’s west coast. © Brooke Pyke
On 23 March 2026, Australia’s Senate passed the High Seas Biodiversity Bill. Your support made this possible. This is your win. Thank you. You’ve been with us through the long road and we don’t take that lightly.
The Australian government has finally brought the Global Ocean Treaty into law – this means we are one step closer to creating ocean sanctuaries here at home.
You backed this when a lot of people said it couldn’t happen. Whether you first supported Greenpeace last month or ten years ago, you were part of something historic. That Australia would one day stand up for the 64% of the world’s ocean that belongs to no country, and was protected by almost nothing.
A pair of Threeband Butterflyfish(Chaetodon Tricinctus) swimming at Ned’s Beach, Lord Howe Island.
© Greenpeace / BRIDGET FERGUSON
What your support made possible
64%
of the world’s ocean now covered by this historic treaty
20 yrs
of campaigning and supporters like you who never gave up
30%
of oceans to be protected by 2030, the goal your support is driving
What you actually changed
The Global Ocean Treaty is the most significant ocean protection agreement in a generation, and it needed Australia. Not just as a signature. As a force
We have one of the largest ocean territories on earth. When Australia speaks in international negotiations, it matters. When we ratify, we don’t just add our name to a list. We shift what’s possible for ocean governance globally. We make it harder for those who want to mine, overfish and pollute the high seas to do so without consequence.
Before this treaty, less than 1% of the high seas had any protection. That’s the deep blue beyond every country’s border, home to humpback whales, migratory sharks, deep-sea corals, and millions of species we haven’t even named. It was an open frontier. Your support helped change that.
Aerial view of a Humpback Whale Mother and Calf swim near Ningaloo Reef, Australia. The Western Australian coastline is a migration route for the Western Australian humpback whale population. © Brooke Pyke / Greenpeace
Because of you, the government heard a message it couldn’t ignore: this matters. Your donations, your petitions, your voice, they all added up to something real. The ocean wasn’t forgotten. Thank you for making sure of that.
— Greenpeace Australia Pacific Nature Team
A 20 year journey you helped drive
This win didn’t happen overnight. It took two decades of persistence and supporters who stayed with us through the slow, frustrating, unglamorous work of change.
What comes next?
Formal ratification will be completed in the coming months, but your support hasn’t just helped close a chapter. It’s opened the next one. Here’s what’s now possible because you showed up:
A Tasman Sea sanctuary, now possible
With ratification, Australia can nominate the Lord Howe Rise as one of the world’s first protected areas in international waters. Your support put this on the table.
Ocean COP 1, setting the rules
The first Conference of Parties meets later in 2026. Greenpeace will be there, pushing for the strongest possible protections. Funded by supporters like you.
30×30, the goal you’re helping achieve
Protecting 30% of oceans by 2030 is now within reach. Australia’s ratification is one of the most important steps toward that target.
Wildlife that can’t thank you, but we will
Humpback whales. Blue sharks. Deep-sea corals. Millions of species will have greater protection because you chose to act when it counted.
Today, the ocean belongs to you
Change like this doesn’t happen without people who decide to show up, through the slow years, the small actions, the moments when it was easy to walk away. You were one of those people, and we won’t forget it.
From all of us at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, and from the humpbacks, the sharks, the corals, and the deep-sea creatures who can’t say it themselves: thank you
