Abstract Despite longstanding research on human rights and the environment, scholarship has only recently moved towards an explicit connection to the marine environment. At the same time, research on human rights and oceans focuses on people at sea , not environmental protection. This article contributes to bridging this gap by putting forward an entry point to guide conceptualisation of the relationship between human rights and marine environmental protection. It reflects on the role of international human rights law, notably its potential to help universalise the significance of ocean wellbeing for all persons, including those located far from coastlines. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Major et al. (2026) studied this question.