A Sustainable Development Goal for the Ocean and Coasts: Global ocean challenges benefit from regional initiatives supporting globally coordinated solutions

The ocean regulates the global climate, provides humans with natural resources such as food, materials, important substances, and energy, and is essential for international trade and recreational and cultural activities. Together with human development and economic growth, free access to, and availability of, ocean resources and services have exerted strong pressure on marine systems, ranging from overfishing, increasing resource extraction, and alteration of coastal zones to various types of thoughtless pollution. International cooperation and effective governance are required to protect the marine environment and promote the sustainable use of marine resources in such a way that due account can be taken of the environmental values of current generations and the needs of future generations. The high seas deserve particular attention since they suffer from a number of regulatory shortcomings due to the basic structures set out under international law. Against this backdrop, developing and agreeing on a focussed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) specifically for the Ocean and Coasts could prove to be an essential element to provide guidance and a framework for regional implementation agreements.     

“联合国海洋科学促进可持续发展十年”:内容与评述

为了找到逆转海洋健康状况衰退的有效途径,联合国决定自2021年启动“联合国海洋科学促进可持续发展十年”(以下简称“海洋十年”)计划。2020年12月31日获得联合国大会审议通过的《“海洋十年”实施计划》以“构建我们所需要的科学、打造我们所希望的海洋”为愿景,描绘了“海洋十年”的预期成果、挑战与目标,以及实施、治理、协调、筹资、监督与审查等机制。“海洋十年”被联合国喻为“一生一次”的计划,是联合国发起的海洋大科学综合性顶层计划,它将通过激发和推动海洋科学领域的变革,在全球和国家层面构建更加强大的基于科技创新的治理体系来实现海洋的可持续发展。这将深刻改变人类对海洋的认知与行为模式,深刻影响乃至引导海洋秩序的演化过程,也会对海洋区域合作整体布局产生较大影响。建议我国以“海洋命运共同体”理念为指导,积极参与“海洋十年”,作为深度参与全球海洋治理的核心抓手,尽快组建“海洋十年”国家委员会,制定中国行动方案,与国际社会一道推进海洋的可持续发展。     

SOFIA’S choices: Discourses,values, and norms of the World Ocean Regime

Some scholars have thought the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea would transform marine politics and policy by incorporating social values of equity and justice via the Common Heritage of Mankind and authentic conservation of an essential part of the biosphere, displacing the dominant commodification of the ocean. Likewise, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization has claimed that the “productivity paradigm” of growth in fishery catch has been replaced by balanced norms of sustainability. This article tests these claims by asking “What is the ‘generative grammar’, or value-based blueprints, of governance for the World Ocean?” using a quantitative content analysis of all extant State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) reports (1995–2016). Not only does the analysis disprove the FAO’s assertions, this research reveals an otherwise invisible, non-codified economistic regime governing the World Ocean that is guided by the norms of sheer volume production, named here simply the “World Ocean Regime.” This partially explains why the marine world is experiencing structural ecological changes, including massive biodiversity loss partly driven by overfishing. The analysis finds that overfishing, ecological life support, moral aesthetic values, social equity, and science are very minor concerns for the World Ocean Regime. Governance is the second-most important set of discourses, but this governance is clearly driven by economic values and norms. The World Ocean Regime has critical implications not only for the sustainability of the World Ocean, but the planetary system that depends on the World Ocean.     

The economics of the common heritage

It is the thesis of this paper that (a) a very large part of the resources, goods and services in the next century will be ocean-dependent; and (b) that the particular nature of the ocean environment magnifies the issues challenging contemporary economic thinking in general. It is quite possible, therefore, that radical innovation in economic thinking will come from “ocean economics” rather than from land-oriented resource or environmental economics. This becomes quite plausible if one thinks that in other (though obviously related) sectors of new thinking, such as international law and governance, the marine sector has played a leading role, just because the ocean is a medium so different from land that it forces us to think differently. In the future the state of marine environment and health of the ocean will have large economical implications at the regional and global level, as it already has today in a number of places at the local and sub-regional level. Hence this overview within the context of this special issue. The paper will begin with a brief assessment of the oceans resource potential for the next century; it will then describe some of the issues humankind has to face in the use and management of these resources, and, in conclusion, the paper will attempt to distill some guidelines for “ocean economics” in the next century.     

A global ocean observing system framework for sustainable development

Sustainable development depends on maintaining ecosystem services which are concentrated in coastal marine and estuarine ecosystems. Analyses of the science needed to manage human uses of ecosystem services have concentrated on terrestrial ecosystems. Our focus is on the provision of multidisciplinary data needed to inform adaptive, ecosystem-based approaches (EBAs) for maintaining coastal ecosystem services based on comparative ecosystem analyses. Key indicators of pressures on coastal ecosystems, ecosystem states and the impacts of changes in states on services are identified for monitoring and analysis at a global coastal network of sentinel sites nested in the ocean-climate observing system. Biodiversity is targeted as the “master” indicator because of its importance to a broad spectrum of services. Ultimately, successful implementation of EBAs will depend on establishing integrated, holistic approaches to ocean governance that oversee the development of integrated, operational ocean observing systems based on the data and information requirements specified by a broad spectrum of stakeholders for sustainable development. Sustained engagement of such a spectrum of stakeholders on a global scale is not feasible. The global coastal network will need to be customized locally and regionally based on priorities established by stakeholders in their respective regions. The E.U. Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the U.S. Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force are important examples of emerging regional scale approaches. The effectiveness of these policies will depend on the co-evolution of ocean policy and the observing system under the auspices of integrated ocean governance.     

欧盟及其成员国海洋塑料垃圾政策及对我国的启示

海洋垃圾已经逐渐成为一个全球性的新兴话题,尤其是塑料垃圾对于海洋环境具有破坏性的影响。我国目前还缺少海洋塑料垃圾的统一管理机制,对海洋塑料垃圾的防治还未有专门的战略规划,使得目前的污染防治成效不甚乐观,因此,整合 各部门力量和资源,对海洋塑料垃圾防治进行统一规划、统一管理是关键。本文在对欧盟及其成员国的海洋塑料垃圾政策搜集和梳理分析的基础上,从塑料的生产和使用、入海塑料垃圾的处理、海洋中已有垃圾的处置三方面与我国进行了对比,并从海洋塑料垃圾的法律体系、行动计划、全过程管控、监测防治技术、宣传教育手段和全球治理等方面为我国加强海洋塑料垃圾污染防治提出了建议。     

国际海洋科技领域研究热点及未来布局

近年来,全球海洋研究呈现出若干新的特点.本文基于对近年来全球重要海洋研究进展信息,分析了全球环境变化背景下几个重要研究热点方向的最新进展,包括全球海洋物理环境变化研究、海洋塑料污染研究、海洋酸化研究、南北极和印度洋研究以及海洋技术开发等.基于对美国、英国、日本和俄罗斯等重要海洋国家最新发布的海洋科技创新政策和计划,分析...     

Implementation barriers to establishing a sustainable coastal aquaculture sector

For much of the last century, the prerequisites for establishing a new primary industry were property rights to secure access to the required natural resources, the appropriate technology, brood stock and labour, and a willing investor. In contrast, in many western nations although all these prerequisites have been in place for the establishment of new coastal marine farming sectors, fledgling aquaculture operations have failed to establish. A prime reason for this is that under increasingly consultative integrated coastal zone management regimes, local stakeholders are expressing a desire for prospective aquaculture operations to demonstrate that they will be sustainable. Many potential marine farmers and regulatory authorities have stumbled on this demand and the work presented here aims to elucidate the nature of sustainability in a coastal aquaculture context and provide a framework for investigating these critical ‘non-traditional’ factors limiting the establishment and development of coastal aquaculture activities.     

Human empowerment: Opportunities from ocean governance

Stimulus to reach the millennium goals of poverty abatement and empowerment, including education and employment, for the large part of the population in the coastal zone can be found in the resources and services of oceans and coasts; the required financial means, given political will and right priorities, can be provided through implementation of the related international conventions, in particular UNCLOS with the EEZ, the Common Heritage of Mankind and other provisions, Agenda 21 [1] of UNCED and the WSSD 2002 Ocean Targets; the motivation is the necessity to address over-exploitation, depletion and destruction of resources, habitats and coastal ecosystem services, global changes, as well as economic transformations and social conditions of poverty, employment and unequity. Achieving adequate management and protection of natural assets as ecosystems and their services, habitats, biodiversity requires that the socio-economic and human security needs of the coastal populations are met. One way to reach the goal is to enable them, representing about 50% of the global population and increasing, to fight poverty and cope with uncertainties and changing conditions of employment, environment and sustainability through proper governance of the coastal and ocean assets. This includes provision of education and knowledge as regards these assets and their proper uses. They include energy, water, food, transportation and trade, communication, coastal developments, tourism, recreation and ecosystem services, as well as the need to properly manage them.The present economic system cannot fully harmonize with the required governance, partly since the ecosystem resources and services are not internalised in the market-oriented system. This calls for a revised education and training system, more comprehensive than the present, taking into account the social, cultural and environmental requirements, and stressing the sustainable development paradigm. In order to achieve ocean governance and comprehensive human security an understanding of the system is needed. This is substantiated through the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development as well as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.The aim here is to discuss some of the issues in context of implementation of related ocean conventions and commitments, which include achieving ocean governance, and to elucidate opportunities given by oceans and coasts, also in generating employment and providing for basic human needs.     

Marine science and technology transfer: Can the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission advance governance of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction?

Marine scientific research is crucial to forge solutions in the development of a new international legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea . The transfer of marine technology, capacity development and marine genetic resources are key issues. This paper examines how the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), as a competent international organisation for marine scientific research and technology transfer, can inform the development of the instrument. Synergies between marine technology transfer and non-monetary benefit sharing of genetic resources are illustrated. Four key lessons from the IOC are examined: 1. Coordinating international cooperation in marine scientific research; 2. Enabling open access to data and knowledge; 3. Facilitating capacity development through scientific training and education; and 4. Governance of marine scientific research. Realising the potential of the IOC to advance governance solutions for ABNJ will depend on increased political will from Member States and strengthened partnerships to reduce resource constraints and enhance the IOC's capacity at global and regional scales.     

Putting the seafood in sustainable food systems

Increasing attention by consumers to the social and environmental dimensions of the food they eat has generated many different responses, including certification programs, watch lists and local/slow food movements. This article examines the more recent entry of seafood into these consumer social movements. Although a concern with the family farm—as well as tendency to equate national security with food security—has long connected terrestrial food production with other cultural concerns, fisheries have tended to be regarded more as natural resources. Considering seafood as part of the “food system” would enhance the management of fisheries, while the long engagement in fisheries with co- and adaptive management and the politics of knowledge would enrich the debate in the agri-foods literature. The article also offers suggestions on how fisheries management could better govern for sustainable food systems, and provides further ideas about food, sustainability and governance.     

Cost and value of multidisciplinary fixed-point ocean observatories

Sustained ocean observations are crucial to understand both natural processes occurring in the ocean and human influence on the marine ecosystems. The information they provide increases our understanding and is therefore beneficial to the society as a whole because it contributes to a more efficient use and protection of the marine environment, upon which human livelihood depends. In addition the oceans, which occupy 73% of the planet surface and host 93% of the biosphere, play a massive role in controlling the climate. Eulerian or fixed-point observatories are an essential component of the global ocean observing system as they provide several unique features that cannot be found in other systems and are therefore complementary to them. In addition they provide a unique opportunity for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary work, combining physical, chemical and biological observations on several time scales. The fixed-point open ocean observatory network (FixO3) integrates the 23 European open ocean fixed-point observatories in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea. The programme also seeks to improve access to key installations and the knowledge they provide for the wider community, from scientists, to businesses, to civil society. This paper summarises the rationale behind open ocean observatories monitoring the essential ocean variables. It also provides an estimate of the costs to operate a typical fixed-point observatory such as those included in the FixO3 network. Finally an assessment of the type of data and services provided by ocean observations and their value to society is also given.     

全球气候变化下海洋环流多尺度演变：联动协同与环境生态效应初探

海洋环流是海洋系统物质能量收支、配置、平衡、维持和变化的关键通道与机制。从全球海洋视角,基于目前海洋环流多变率动力过程与趋势演变的认知,重点综述气候变化下海洋环流的海盆尺度三维联动特征机制、洋际交换与协同、世界大洋经向输运变化以及相关的海洋气候与环境生态效应,依据研究现状和需求,提出研究建议。结果表明：全球一致性变暖路径与进程调控下,受驱动因子的演变与胁迫,海洋环流变化对副热带中高纬地区年际、年代际气候与环境变迁具有突出作用影响,并可产生显著环境生态效应和严重致灾风险。建议加大专精特新观测仪器自主研发,通过国际合作加大中高纬海洋环流多尺度动力过程综合调查的参与度和主导性,增强多学科融合交叉研究力度,有效提升深层次海洋环流变异及动力、环境、生态灾害影响的气候变化综合风险预测预评估和防治能力,为海洋领域能源开发、生态系统保护、气候变化应对与灾害风险治理提供必要的动力学参考。     

IOI-OceanLearn: Rationalizing the IOI's education and training in ocean governance

The International Ocean Institute (IOI), established in 1972 and with its Secretariat in Malta, has been engaged in training and education in ocean governance for the past 25 years. The IOI network now comprises some 25 Operational Centers worldwide. Training and education activities have expanded in parallel with the growth of the network, and a variety of courses are now delivered in a multi-modal manner. Interdisciplinary, global training programs are needed to address the capacity-building requirements in ocean governance resulting from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), and Agenda 21, Chapters 36 and 37. The IOI is responding to these needs by rationalizing its unique training and education programs with a view to coordination and networking of courses among IOI Operational Centers and their host institutions. In 1999, the IOI's Founder, Prof. Elisabeth Mann Borgese, proposed the establishment of the IOI Virtual University. This innovative idea, however, proved too costly for the IOI to implement. An alternative, more cost-effective means of coordinating all of IOI's education and training activities is now being implemented, under the brand name “IOI-OceanLearn.” The Operational Centers, their host institutions, and other training partners will work together in the development and delivery of training courses. The key aspects of IOI-OceanLearn will include quality assurance, networking of courses and accessibility. The OceanLearn niche will focus on short training courses; the implementation roadmap includes networking of the IOI's flagship training program on Ocean Governance at Dalhousie University, incorporating Ocean Science into training courses and fostering of workable capacity-building partnerships with other organizations.     

Identifying new pathways for ocean governance: The role of legal principles in areas beyond national jurisdiction

This paper seeks to illustrate the role of principles in an emerging regime for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ). While certainly not a standalone solution for a complex issue, principles nonetheless serve an essential function in regime-building, bridging legal and governance processes to identify new ways forward. Given the fundamental questions of international law at hand – the restriction of the freedoms of the high seas, the nature of UNCLOS as a “living instrument” and the need to engage in innovative practice spanning law and governance – it comes as no surprise that discussions on the future of ABNJ have been highly polarized. Principles offer points of convergence to address both the “regulatory gaps” and “implementation gaps” identified and serve the structural needs of both law and governance to produce dynamic change in the protection of marine biodiversity in ABNJ. Through their function as precursors to rules, principles prepare a common space for the emergence of a regime and give it a set of mechanisms through which it can strengthen its connections to the diversity of instruments and institutions involved in addressing a multifaceted problem. A statement of principles to strengthen the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in ABNJ – many of which constitute customary international law – would therefore be a logical and constructive next step in this on-going process.     

The exclusive economic zone: some perspectives

A brief presentation is made of the concept of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) adopted by the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, and included as a major feature of the Law of the Sea. The potential of the EEZ for the small developing island countries is discussed, together with the possibility of using the EEZ to achieve a larger measure of equity among nations than the prevailing one. The role of the EEZ in obtaining improved ocean governance, more sustainable management of the marine resources and control of marine pollution is considered. The need for building an indigenous capacity to deal with the marine resources and issues is identified and the possibility of achieving this through regional cooperation. The possibilities inherent in the EEZ regime for oceanic islands are discussed, with focus on the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean and the central Atlantic Ocean.     

Policy,legal and institutional reforms for public–private partnerships needed to sustain large marine ecosystems of East Asia

The legacy of overfishing, destruction of coastal habitats, and accelerated pollution loading has dramatically reduced the biomass and diversity of marine waters in East Asia. Coasts can no longer support the numbers of people migrating to them, thus risking future economic benefits and social stability. Some countries are adopting needed reforms while, in others, less priority is given to reforms. National budgets for the environment, as well as international financial flows for environmental sustainability, remain disappointing. In the water sector alone, a global shortfall of US$100 billion annually will frustrate the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The paper argues that reforms are essential in the North and the South in order to reverse the gloomy outlook for East Asia, including global trade reforms and reduction of agricultural/fisheries subsidies in the North. Reforms to facilitate creation of public–private partnerships and their international support may be the only viable options for improving water service delivery, sewage/industrial effluent treatment, fisheries, and maritime transport to reduce impacts on coastal and marine waters to meet MDGs. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has supported a series of projects since 1991, totaling US$657 million for East Asia, with an emphasis on practical application of integrated coastal management for the large marine ecosystems. Among reforms identified to mobilize the private sector are revolving funds, reinsurance facilities, sub-sovereign lending, risk mitigation, partnerships, and corporate responsibility. GEF advocated these reforms in the run-up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development and is supporting a new generation of projects for countries desiring to pursue them.     

基于熵值-突变级数法的环渤海地区海洋生态环境承载力评价及障碍因子诊断

随着对海洋开发力度的不断加大,海洋生态环境问题日益突出,已成为中国海洋可持续发展的制约因素。作为衡量海洋可持续发展的主要手段之一,海洋生态环境承载力的定量化评价是必不可少的重要环节。针对海洋生态环境承载力的突变特性,基于熵值-突变级数法,从压力和承压两方面构建海洋生态环境承载力评价指标体系,结合障碍因子诊断模型,考量环渤海地区4个省市2006-2014年的海洋生态环境承载力的空间差异和时序特征,剖析影响承载力发展水平的主要障碍因子。研究表明:环渤海地区2006-2014年海洋生态环境承载能力整体较差,承载力水平呈下降趋势;2014年海洋生态环境承载强度分为两类,山东和天津为较弱承载力水平,河北和辽宁为弱承载力水平;生态弹性小、环境污染重、生态资源匮乏已成为制约环渤海海洋生态环境承载力发展水平的普遍问题。     

国家管辖范围外海洋生物多样性养护与可持续利用国际协定重点问题评析与中国应对策略

近年来,各国持续关注国家管辖范围外海洋生物多样性保护和可持续利用国际协定(The Convention on Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Utilization beyond Areas of National Jurisdiction,以下简称BBNJ国际协定)谈判问题。文章从BBNJ国际协定谈判发展历程,分析海洋遗传资源惠益分享、区域管理工具、环境影响评价、能力建设和技术转让等重点问题,探讨了制定BBNJ国际协定需要考虑的因素,指出我国应加强海洋事务法律及相关政策的研究,提高我国参与国家管辖外海域治理能力的应对策略。