No single country owns the high seas. So who protects the life in them? 

The BBNJ Agreement, which entered into force in January 2026, gives countries a way to establish marine protected areas in international waters. 

In this episode of Hot Take, CGTN's Yang Zhao speaks with experts in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, about what it will take to put the treaty into practice and why the health of the open ocean matters to us all.