A/4/427
English
Page 261
14. High concentrations of substances such as heavy meals, organochlorines. and petroleum nave been round on the surface. With continued accumulation, this could have complex and longslasting effects.[1] The sea floor is a region of complex physical. chemical, and biological activity microbial processes play a major role, but as yet serious damage is known to have occurred only in very localized regions. Although these findings are encouraging, given accelerating pressure and the inadequacy of present data. they provide no grounds for complacency.
2. Oceans Management
15. Looking to the next century. the Commission is convinced that sustainable development , if not survival itself depends on significant advances in the management of the oceans. Considerable changes will be required in our institutions and policies and more resources will have to be committed to oceans management.
16. Three imperatives lie at the heart of the oceans management question:
- The underlying unity of the oceans requires effective global management regimes.
- The shared resource characteristics of many regional seas make forms or regional management mandatory.
- The major land based threats to the oceans require national actions based on international cooperation.
17. Mutual dependence has increased in recent years, The Law of the Sea Convention, with the establishment or the 200-milEEZs. has put an additional 35 per cent or the oceans surface under national control with regard to management or natural resources. It has also provided an institutional setting that could lead to better management of these areas, given that single governments may be expected to manage more rationally resources over which they have sole control. However, this expectation ignores the real realities of short sighted political and economic goals.
18. An international ecosystem approach is required for the management of these resources for sustained use. Significant gains have been made in past decades, nationally and internationally, and many essential components have been put place. But they do not add up to a system that reflect the imperatives mentioned above. Were the EEZs of several states come together in semi-enclosed or regional seas, integrated management requires varying degrees of international cooperation, such as joint monitoring and research on migratory species and measures to combat pollution and regulate actions whose effects reach across boundaries.
- ↑ GESAMP in a recent evaluation of the present state of the health of the oceans. 'The Health of the Oceans', Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 16, UNEP, Nairobi, 1982.
