Relationship Between the Oceans and the Three Pillars of Sustainable Development
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SEGMENT I: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, OCEANS AND THE LAW OF THE SEA The 12 th Meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea 20 th -24 th June 2011 Relationship between the Oceans and the Three Pillars of Sustainable Development By CherdsakVirapat Executive Director International Ocean Institute (IOI) Malta Monday, 20 th June 2011 15.00-18.00 hrs The United Nations Headquarters 1 Relationship between the oceans and the three pillars of sustainable development The ocean is not only the source of life and its prime modulator and regulator, but also a primary provider of economic and social services to humankind. “Sustainable development,” is a broad and often ambiguously used term. Its best definition perhaps is given by Brundtland, not in Our Common Future, but in an address (the Sir Peter Scott lecture) she delivered in Bristol on 8 October 1986 1: There are many dimensions to sustainability. First, it requires the elimination of poverty and deprivation. Second, it requires the conservation and enhancement of the resource base which alone can ensure that the elimination of poverty is permanent. Third, it requires a broadening of the concept of development so that it covers not only economic growth but also social and cultural development. Fourth, and most important, it requires the unification of economics and ecology in decision-making at all levels. The nexus between oceans and coasts indicates a continuity and long-term pressure to the oceans posed by the increase of human populations in coastal cities and climate change impacts. This will affect sustainable services and resources of the oceans 2. Humans however failed to live with the ocean and from the ocean in a sustainable relationship. The economic and social welfare of humankind depends to a large degree on the oceans’ productive sectors and services. The manner in which humans exploit those resources and services, have been anything but humane. With over exploitation and depletion of living resources compounded by land based and seaborne pollution has resulted in the current scarcity of affordable protein making a mockery of attempts to achieve MDG goals relating to health and poverty reduction. Regrettably, however, the human impact on the ocean through use and exploitation has been destructive and unconscionable because humans have taken for granted the sustainability of the ocean. In so doing, and despite decades of efforts to evolve a global and comprehensive governance regime, the ocean’s fragile ecosystem is being systematically destroyed. Social development The ocean covers almost three-quarters of the Earth’s surface and by 2025 about 75 percent of the world’s population could be living within 100 km of its coasts. While the total economic and social value of the ocean can never be fully or accurately estimated, humankind has an economic and social dependency on the goods, services, and uses provided by the ocean. 1 Borgese, Elisabeth Mann. 1998. The Oceanic Circle: Governing the Seas as a Global Resource: A Report to the Club of Rome, United Nations University Press. 240 pp. 2 Behnam, Awni. 2010. Concept Paper. Water: Preserving Our Oceans, Panel Discussion, 30 th March 2010, 122 nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly and Related Meetings, Bangkok, Thailand, 27 th March-1st April 2010. 18 pp. 2 • It is the largest source of protein for humankind. More than 90% of the planet’s living biomass is found in the ocean. • Moreover, 90% of the ocean is unexplored 3. Given this fact and the fact that the ocean (particularly deep-sea ecosystems) is home to biodiversity unparalleled on land, it is quite likely that the ocean contains as-yet undiscovered secrets which could, like many of its resources, be used for the common good of humankind. • Food security exists when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (FAO). As indicated in the UN Millennium Development Goals adopted by 189 nations and signed by 147 Heads of State and Governments during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, goal 1 is dedicated to eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by reducing by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day between 1990 and 2015; achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people; and reduce by half the population of people who suffer from hunger between 1990 and 2015. The indicators for monitoring progress for the last target are the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age and proportion of population below the minimum level of dietary energy consumption. 4 • Captured fisheries and aquaculture supplied the world with about 110 million tonnes of fish in 2006, providing an apparent per capita supply of 16.7 kg. Global captured fisheries production in 2006 was about 92 million tons with an estimated fish-sale value of US$ 91.2 billion, comprising about 82 million tonnes from marine waters and a record 10 million tonnes from inland waters 5. China, Peru, the United States of America, Indonesia, Japan, Chile, India, Russian Federation, Thailand and the Philippines are the top ten producing countries in 2006. World captured fisheries production has been relatively stable in the past decade with the exception of marked fluctuations driven by the catch of anchoveta – a species extremely susceptible to oceanographic conditions determined by the El Nino Southern Oscillation – in the South Pacific. Fluctuation in other species and regions tend to compensate for each other to a large extent. • Fisheries and aquaculture, directly or indirectly play an essential role in the livelihoods of millions of people around the world. In 2006, an estimated 43.5 million people were directly engaged, part time or full time, in primary 3 IUCN. 1997. Critical Ocean Issues: Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Deep Waters and High Seas, UNEP 2005 available on line www.iucn.org Ecological Economic Research and Application Inc. 4 United Nations. 2008. Goals, Targets and Indicators Effective 8 September 2003. UN Web Service Section, Department of Public Information, United Nations. 5 Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. 2009. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008. 3 production of fish either captured from the wild or in aquaculture, and a further 4 million people were engaged on an occasional basis (2.5 million of them in India). About 86% of fishers and fish farmers worldwide live in Asia, with China having the greatest number (8.1 million fishers and 4.5 million fish farmers). In 2006, other countries with a significant number of fishers and fish farmers were India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Viet Nam. Most fishers and fish farmers are small-scale, artisanal fishers, operating on coastal and inland fishery resources. • Poverty alleviation of small-scale fishers should be done on both sides, i.e., income and expenditure. The income of fishers can be increased not only from their fishing activities but from eco-tourism and activities at home which could beother sources of income. However, in some communities where eco- tourism has well developed, outside investors have engaged in eco-tourism whilst trying to maximize exploitation benefits. This leads to highly unsustainable development in eco-tourism. Agencies concerned and NGOs should provide consultancy and assistance in eco-tourism management for communities. • In order to maintain sustainable fisheries and food security, capacity building for individuals and organizations is required. Learning by doing is the best practice for capacity building. NGOs shall play an active role in capacity building programmes, they may provide technical assistance through training programmes and essential technical manuals that are written in a simple language understandable to all stakeholders. Economic development The economically and ecologically sustainable use of ocean resources involves much more such as fisheries, marine transport, and off-shore extraction of oil, gas and other minerals. It also involves recognition of the way in which land-based activities affect the oceans. The enormous increase in economic activity and the settling of more and more people in coastal zones are threatening the ecological value of the oceans 6. The combined value of the ocean ecosystem in goods and services is conservatively estimated at over US$33 trillion per year, of which 63% (US$ 20.9 trillion) is contributed by the oceans 7; this estimate covers such uses as exploitation of living and non-living resources, transportation, communication, recreation, energy production, and waste disposal 8,9. 6 Soares, Mario, et al . 1998. The Ocean Our Future: The Report of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans. 248 pp. 7 WWF/IUCN. 1998. Creating a Sea Change. The WWF/IUCN Marine Policy. 64 pp. 8 Behnam, A. 2007. Biodiversity - An Issue of Governance. In Wave of Change: Women, Youth and the Sea Conference, Partnering for the protection of the marine environment and the sustainable use of its resources, Pacem in Maribus XXXII, Malta, 5-8 November 2007, Corinthia Palace Hotel, Attard, Malta. P. 67-74. 4 Environmental protection Oceanus - the world ocean – is vast, covering 360 million square kilometers and holding close to 1.4 billion cubic meters of water 1. This gigantic body of salt water, which wraps around the planet like an insulating blanket, literally makes life on Earth possible. The oceans are the engines that drive the world’s climate, defining weather and storing huge quantities of solar energy in the process. As climatologists have discovered the oceans absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Since this invisible gas is one of the main climate-changing agents, this makes the oceans, like forests, an important carbon ‘sink’ that helps to modify human impacts on the global climate.