Rena Lee is the

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

for

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Oceans and Law of the Sea issues, special envoy of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and ambassador for international law. She is also the chief executive of the

Intellectual Property Office of Singapore The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Law of the Government of Singapore. IPOS advises on and administers intellectual property (IP) laws, promotes IP awareness, and provides the infra ...

(IPOS), having taken over from

Daren Tang Daren Tang Heng Shim (born 1972) (Chinese: 邓鸿森) is the fifth and current Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He is also Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of ...

. She was included in the Leaders category of

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

's 2024 list of the 100 most influential people for her chairing of successful final negotiations, leading to an agreed text for the first international agreement under the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea Treaty, is an international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. , 167 c ...

(UNCLOS), on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) more simply known as the

High Seas Treaty The United Nations agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction or BBNJ Agreement, also referred to by some stakeholders as the High Seas Treaty or Global Ocean Treaty, is a legally binding instrument for the conservation and sust ...

Education and career

Lee graduated with a master’s degree in law from the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

in 1998. She joined the Singapore

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in 1992 and began her practice of international law. She joined the Bar in 1993 and the Singapore attorney general’s chambers in 2008. She is a member of the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority and was Minister-Counsellor at the Hague Diplomatic Office of Singapore in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In 2020 Lee became the CEO of the Singapore Intellectual Property Office. Lee was elected president of the UN Intergovernmental Conference on the High Seas Treaty or BBNJ agreement in 2018. Discussions had started in 2004 with formal talks following for many years thereafter. The high seas, which cover almost half of the planet, start where the borders of countries’ exclusive economic zones, up to 200

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s from coastlines and

continental shelves A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

, end. The high seas therefore do not fall under the jurisdiction of any country. The final negotiations of the High Seas treaty were lengthy but successful. As recognition of her careful, firm diplomacy with representatives of 193 nations, Lee was included in the 2024 Time magazine list of the 100 most influential people. The treaty is seen as an important first step towards conserving 30 per cent of the world's land and sea by 2030, a goal set as part of

30 by 30 30 by 30 (or 30x30) is a worldwide initiative for governments to designate 30% of Earth's land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030. The target was proposed by a 2019 article in ''Science Advances'' "A Global Deal for Nature: Guiding pri ...

in December 2023. The treaty was then adopted in June 2023 by the entire

UN membership The United Nations member states are the sovereign states that are members of the United Nations (UN) and have equal representation in the UN General Assembly. The UN is the world's largest intergovernmental organization. The criteria ...

and now needs to be signed and ratified by member countries. If 60 countries ratify the treaty, it will become legally binding.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Rena Living people Singaporean civil servants Singaporean diplomats National University of Singapore alumni 21st-century Singaporean people 21st-century Singaporean women Singaporean women diplomats 21st-century women civil servants Year of birth missing (living people)