`Crisis' in oceans may pose threat to human survival - commission report

The land pollutes the sea. Not a startling revelation, you might think, but it is one of the many detailed facts in the first report by the Independent World Commission on the Oceans which was published at Expo '98 in Lisbon, Portugal, last week.

In fact, land-based sources account for some 77 per cent of marine pollution levels, according to the report which calls for a new global approach to ocean management and recommends that the issue of ocean affairs be integrated into all relevant UN bodies and agencies.

Published by the commission to mark the International Year of the Ocean, the report warns of an "unfolding drama" on the high seas, extending from territorial disputes which threaten peace and security and the effects of global climate change to over-fishing, habitat destruction, illegal trafficking, congested shipping lanes, piracy, terrorism and the disruption of coastal communities.

The commission, which was formed under UN auspices in 1995, says it is no exaggeration to refer to a "crisis" in the oceans which may pose a threat to human survival. After all, in the words of the late Jacques Cousteau, "if the sea dies, man dies". The report presents much evidence to back up its case, including statistics on pollution levels, with both land and atmospheric sources of same; the growth of piracy and maritime violence, particularly in south-east Asia; detrimental effects of mineral exploitation and certain modern fishing practices; and the impact of El Nino.

In relation to climate change, one of the most disturbing facts was gleaned during an analysis of whale catches since 1930 near the Antarctic ice edge. This has shown that the circumpolar ice edge retreated several degrees of latitude between 1954 and 1972, corresponding to a dramatic 25 per cent reduction in the area of ice cover, which probably has significant consequences for the biological productivity of the Southern Ocean. This major regional climatic change may signal a global one, it says.

The commission says it is unable to gauge to what extent climate change will be accompanied by an increase in the frequency and severity of storms or hurricanes - information which is critical to coastal engineering design and to the assessment of risk by the insurance industry. It believes oceans must be monitored to improve the ability to detect and predict the effects of climate change and the oceans' role as a "carbon dioxide sink".

It makes several recommendations aimed at allowing less developed coastal states like Ireland to build the capacity to take effective advantage - in a sustainable manner - of exclusive rights to use of resources in their areas, and to meet their obligations under the UN Law of the Sea Convention. However, high seas should be treated as a public trust, it stresses. Emphasising the need for a political will, it proposes that navies be deployed to the non-military task of protecting the marine environment. The maintenance of the freedom of the seas must be balanced against the claims of coastal states, it says.

"Efforts to reorientate naval responsibilities should include the creation and training of specialised naval units, mandated and equipped to undertake policing tasks supported, wherever possible, by the use of ocean observation satellites. Where navies are reluctant to depart from tradition, the capability of national coastguards and other security forces could be appropriately strengthened," it says.

The Ocean: Our Future is published by the Independent World Commission on the Oceans, Geneva, Switzerland, at e-mail: secretariat@world-oceans.org