4.3 – The Ocean

The world’s oceans act as a carbon “sink”, absorbing nearly one third (31%) of the CO2 released into the atmosphere globally and also absorbing 90% of excess heat. They also provide vital food supplies, accounting for 17% of animal protein worldwide. And, they are the main pathway for international trade in physical goods. Oceans are clearly a resource of the global commons we all have a stake in. 

Yet the many mechanisms through which we manage and attempt to steward our oceans have a common flaw, which is the absence of a sufficiently global approach, especially for enforcement. While we have a rich patchwork of international treaties and entities, some nations choose not to participate, and others engage in perilous marine practices to evade controls and sanctions, threatening our environment, human rights, and critical global infrastructure.

Fundamental to global ocean governance is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in force since 1994. Like the UNFCCC, UNCLOS provides a framework for regulation via additional treaties. Sadly, the US has not ratified UNCLOS and thus is not a party to it. The Convention established the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and the International Seabed Authority (ISA). Active since 1992, ITLOS has jurisdiction over any dispute concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention.

In 2023, we saw encouraging news for ocean conservation, with the adoption of a High Seas Treaty, which Greenpeace called “the biggest conservation victory ever.” Ratification by at least 60 countries is required for it to take effect. While 113 countries have signed on, including the US, China, and the EU (but not Russia), just 21 have ratified the treaty so far, with no major powers doing so yet. Although it’s not aimed directly at reducing climate change, its measures to protect marine ecosystems “created a legal mandate for taking climate change mitigation and adaptation measures,” as well as effectively supporting these ecosystems’ carbon sink function. 

Unfortunately, the global rule of law is currently inadequate in several key areas with respect to ocean life, use and traffic. 

Principally, the oceans will experience a mass extinction of an estimated 75% of marine animals if atmospheric CO2 levels reach 870 ppm and seawater acidity drops below a pH of 7.9. At that level, lower trophic levels of ocean life will not be able to calcify their exoskeletons, will die off, and will starve out the food webs that depend on them. If current trends continue, this mass “ocean death” could arrive before 2100.

In addition, uncontrolled plastic pollution in the ocean threatens hundreds of species, including humans, due to ingestion, entanglement, pathogen distribution, and microplastic toxicity. 

The high-seas fishing industry is notorious for overfishing and human rights abuses including forced labor and murder, as well as national sovereignty violations such as poaching and territorial expansionism. 

There is a growing “dark fleet,” currently comprising more than 1,000 dangerously deteriorating ships deployed to evade sanctions such as the price cap on Russian oil (internationally imposed following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine). The fleet operates without insurance under “flags of convenience” from weak countries that are not parties to the sanctions regime. The ships often keep their identification transponders turned off, or on but programmed to send false location signals. This dark fleet not only limits sanction effectiveness, but it also risks grave and lasting damage to regions where these ships inevitably run aground and are typically then abandoned.

The recent severing of undersea cables and pipelines impacts world information and energy infrastructure while also damaging marine environments. Although many recent incidents have occurred in the exclusive economic zones of specific countries, vast areas of the ocean lie beyond any one country’s purview. Despite existing treaties, maritime law enforcement is evidently inadequate to prevent these attacks. 

A UN Ocean Conference is scheduled for June 2025. Its aims include climate action, joint public and private investment to “reinvent the ocean economy,” help for developing countries to “adapt to the new blue economy and to the fight against illegal fishing,” and to “help local governments adapt to rising sea levels.”