Synthesis: The Blue Revolution
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6.1 The oceans as the common heritage of mankind
6.2 Expansion into the oceans
The WBGU regards global public and common goods – such as the atmosphere and the seabed beneath the high seas – as the ‘common heritage of mankind’. As a principle of international law this means that global public and common goods belong to all of humanity and must remain accessible. In international environmental policy, the principle is interpreted for the future in such a way that the world’s natural resources are to be preserved, so that they can also be used by future generations. This results in a system of shared sovereignty rights between states which is based on a global regulatory framework geared towards sustainability goals. The conservation and management of the common heritage of mankind requires stewards, a regime for conservation and use that serves exclusively peaceful purposes, and rules on sharing to ensure that the benefits and costs of the regime are fairly distributed (Chapter 7). Because large sections of the oceans are openly accessible for many uses, the consequences of the T ragedy of the Commons (Hardin, 1968) can still be observed in many areas. And even in cases where regulations apply, they are not strict enough to force ocean users and those who cause damage to ensure the long-term conservation of the oceans and its ecosystem services. Many people and organizations have taken up the cause of conserving the oceans as the ‘heritage of mankind’. Two prominent examples are Elisabeth Mann Borgese and Arvid Pardo and their farsighted and radical commitment to a new Convention on the Law of the Sea in the 1970s (Mann Borgese, 1975; Pils and Kühn, 2012). Of all global public goods, the sea is probably the one that is most deeply ingrained in the public consciousness and deemed most worthy of protection, because of its strong symbolic significance. Even so, this has not stopped the pollution of the oceans, the destruction of the oceanic environment, overfishing or the ruthless exploitation of marine resources.
Whereas in former centuries humanity regarded – and indeed shunned – the sea as a source of insecurity, chaos and danger, modern navigation and technology have created the impression that, apart from certain risk factors, it can be brought under control. Yet under the impression of events like the gigantic oil spill after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010, the tsunami-triggered multiple meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011, the disastrous flooding of the Asian coasts in 2004, and hurricanes like Katrina (2005) and Sandy (2012), which brought major cities like New Orleans and New York to a standstill, the oceans again look like a source and venue of disasters, not to mention the insidious threat of rising sea levels caused by climate change (WBGU, 2006). Unchecked expansion into the oceans, as experienced in the case of overfishing and currently being continued in aquaculture, should therefore not be the watchword; rather, as the exemplary areas of application in this report show, a wise, ‘horticultural’ approach to the ocean as a common good should characterize the political ideas on ocean governance and use, also for future generations. This includes respecting the systemic interdependences involved in the use of the sea, especially in the context of land use. The seas have been changing more slowly compared to the atmosphere, much of the biosphere and the land, but this situation seems unlikely to continue. Human interventions in critical functions of the planet are increasingly being reflected in significant changes in the oceans (Chapter 1). On land, human use of the natural environment has already been pushed to evident and, in some cases, painful limits, so that many are now targeting the seas as the final available major source of raw materials. This is illustrated by the extraction of raw materials, as exploration and drilling operations are moved ever further out into the deep sea. Energy and communications infrastructures are moving further and
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