Environmental challenges and priorities for action

The oceans have a major influence on world climate and are an important source of food, most of which comes from the coastal zones. These zones, and the traditional, sustainable, life-styles of the fishing communities that live there, are under immense and growing pressure. Urbanization, pollution, sea level rise, and the destruction of natural coast defences and fish nursery grounds are undermining sustainability. Although chemical pollution in some areas, with some substances, is falling it remains a serious problem over the world as a whole.

The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held at Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, recognized the need for more effective protection of the resources of the coastal seas, and a number of specific actions are set out in Agenda 21. But action is still not being taken on a scale which matches the problem. There are four probable reasons: first, the sea is still assumed to be too big to damage; second, jurisdiction is inadequate; third, serious national and international conflicts of interest remain; and fourth, economic distortions hamper sound judgement. The northern seas, which suffer less from these problems, should be demonstration areas for sound marine resource management.