Publisher Council on Foreign Relations Release Date Last
Updated: May 21, 2013 Scope of the Challenge Oceans are the
source of life on earth. They shape the climate, feed the world,
and cleanse the air we breathe. They are vital to our economic
well being, ferrying roughly 90 percent of global commerce,
housing submarine cables, and providing one-third of traditional
hydrocarbon resources (as well as new forms of energy such as
wave, wind, and tidal power). But the oceans are increasingly
threatened by a dizzying array of dangers, from piracy to
climate change. To be good stewards of the oceans, nations
around the world need to embrace more effective multilateral
governance in the economic, security, and environmental realms.
The world's seas have always been farmed from top to bottom. New
technologies, however, are making old practices unsustainable.
When commercial trawlers scrape the sea floor, they bulldoze
entire ecosystems. Commercial ships keep to the surface but
produce carbon-based emissions. And rec