Ocean
“The ship has reached the shore”, pleasantly said President Rena Lee, UN Ambassador for Oceans at the conclusion of the 5th Intergovernmental Conference on an international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. This has been widely known as the “BBNJ process” or a journey for most that have been involved from the very start. Why is this important for the world and especially for the Pacific region?
According to the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), approximately 30,569,00 square kilometers accounts for the ocean in the seventeen (17) EEZs in the Pacific Region. Furthermore, about 55% of the world’s tuna come from the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO). Because of this there needs to be vigorous regulations and management of oceans with regards to fisheries to ensure there is no exploitation. Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a major problem in the Pacific Region.
In addition, a quantifying study by the FFA, indicates approximately $333 million or 192,186 tonnes of fish per year is lost to IUU. This is certainly a lot of resources taken out of the Pacific Ocean annually through IUU. However, the impact does not begin and end with money, but rather encompass the wider socio-economic impacts it has on our oceans. There is a negative trend towards the different flora and fauna found and particular to the region, techniques used by some of these IUU players can be detrimental to the marine eco-system.
Our selfish wants and desires leads us to wanting more and taking more than we should from our natural environment including our oceans. It is not enough for us to just take the fish out of the ocean but we tend to take more than fish. In our strive to be better off socially and economically we act without regard for instance, deep sea mining, dumping nuclear waste and testing nuclear weapons in the ocean to name but a few. It is never enough that the oceans sustain us through livelihood, income and leisure but we also push the boundaries of our innovations and end up worse off by destroying what sustains us.
This is why the agreement for BBNJ is a giant leap forward in our efforts to secure a more sustainable management of our ocean for ourselves and especially for future generations. It is important to recognize that we need to rectify the problem of excess demand on the already strained supply the ocean can give us. Whilst this may not be 100% bulletproof, it definitely gives our ocean and our future generations a fighting chance at survival.
So, can we re-assess our lifestyle and our consumption to ensure there is no waste and excess of what we want from what we actually need. As Christians ask during the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread”. If only this was our reality but sadly our desires and wants trumps our needs. That is human nature after all and why Eve and Adam took the bite of the apple because everything else wasn’t enough.
But for now lets celebrate the wins and work to counter our losses!