World in Transition: Governing the Marine Heritage

Humans have been using the oceans since very early on in their history. Analyses show that human influence can be proved in all parts of the world’s seas and oceans in the meantime. Today, 40 % of people live no more than 100 km from a coast, and more than 90 % of global long-distance merchandise trade travels by sea.

The direct and indirect use of the oceans has already led to profound changes that greatly impact on the ocean ecosystem and the ecosystem services used by humanity. Moreover, trends show in many cases that the threat to the oceans caused by human activity is still growing.

In addition to present-day uses, new, future technologies and ocean uses are emerging which on the one hand may pose additional challenges for the protection of the oceans, but on the other offer opportunities for their sustainable use.

The WBGU’s long-term vision for the oceans calls for the UNCLOS to be reformed in a way that ensures a precautionary and sustainable management of the oceans. The focus would thus be, both, on the permanent protection of the oceans and on their common use – in a world that will soon be populated by 9 billion people. The whole of humanity should benefit from the potential uses of the oceans. This would require a consensus on how to manage the oceans, a consensus that can be reached via a broadly based social dialogue: a social contract for the seas. The WBGU recommends setting up a World Oceans Organisation and corresponding regional institutions for sustainable marine management as the keystone of a prudent and gradual transformation of international ocean policy.

The world already has a comprehensive international treaty – the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – which acts as a „constitution of the oceans“. However, the regulations agreed therein are often not consistently implemented. Too little is done to prevent or sanction wrongdoing. Classifying all marine regions, with the exception of the territorial seas, as the common heritage of mankind would lead to a significant increase in obligations to take precautions and to protect the oceans. In the exclusive economic zone – i. e. the zone between 12 and a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the coast, whose use is reserved for the coastal states – the obligations to protect, report and monitor should be incumbent on the respective countries. On the high seas these obligations should be assumed by Regional Marine Management Organisations (RMMO), which are yet to be established. Only if these organisations or the states fail in their responsibilities should the World Oceans Organisation have the authority to intervene.

Today, the global fishery industry is in a critical state. Despite the increased effort being put into fishing and the fact that hitherto unexploited regions (such as the deep sea) are now also being fished, yields have been stagnating for years. Today, nearly 90 % of global stocks are classed as either overfished or completely exhausted. Growing worldwide demand for fish and seafoods can no longer be satisfied by fisheries alone; it is therefore increasingly being serviced by aquaculture, mostly in inland waterways, but also in coastal regions and in the sea.

There is great potential for energy generation from and on the sea.

In the extraction of oil and gas there is already a clear trend towards offshore exploration. This development seems to be continuing in the field of renewable energy; the use of offshore wind energy, for example, is growing much faster than onshore use in European countries. The oceans themselves are becoming increasingly interesting for energy storage, too. Marine pumped storage power plants open up new possibilities for a cost-effective and environment-friendly short-term storage of electrical energy. Further possible uses of the seas include the production of hydrogen or methane from wind power or from aquaculture-based biomass for the long-term storage of energy and the provision of chemical raw materials.