Oceans, the final frontier
Who owns the seas and the hidden treasures lying beneath?
LONDON: Ransom-hungry pirates, polar explorers, offshore oil giants – the race for the riches of the world’s final frontier is on.
From Thailand to Alaska, the battle to tap ever-dwindling resources from minerals to fish is spurring new conflicts over who has the right to the treasures of the deep seas.
Over the next decade, India will spend more than RM3.4bil to develop and test deep-sea technologies – including human-piloted exploration submarines – in the Indian Ocean that could give access to once inaccessible mineral riches up to 11km under water.
But mining the seas – home to the vast majority of life on Earth – carries huge risks and could cause irreversible damage to the environment, campaigners warn.
Oceans – cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, yet less than 20% of their seafloor has been mapped. And what lies below the waves is worth trillions of dollars.
The so-called “blue economy” of marine resources is expected to contribute RM12 trillion to the world’s GDP by 2030 – equivalent to the size of the UK economy.
But from overfishing, to a rush to mine deep seas, to slavery on fishing boats, the world’s oceans are a source of growing dispute on who should get access to them.
Experts say oceans are a neglected area of global governance.
“Smart rules are essential to keep oceans healthy – but because nobody owns them, we have a real problem,” said Dominic Waughray, head of the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Global Public Goods.
But a proposed UN treaty to protect ocean biodiversity – and prevent over-exploitation – could change that.
Negotiations on a legally binding treaty which would cover the high seas, or ocean areas that extend beyond national boundaries capped at 200 nautical miles from coasts began in September and aim to reach an agreement by 2020.
But government and UN action are only part of the answer.
“Governments are good at setting targets, but to really get things done you’re going to need more than hoping UN agencies alone can fix this,” said Waughray.
He said technology and monitor-
Smart rules are essential to keep oceans healthy – but because nobody owns them, we have a real problem. Dominic Waughray
ing tools to enforce the would-be treaty would be crucial.
So, who are the main players controlling Earth’s final frontier? And how will the global hunt for resources affect the communities who depend on the seas?
In southern Thailand, a tourism boom is pitting the Chao Lay, or people of the sea, against land developers, while marine conservation efforts also limit their traditional fishing grounds.
The legal fight over the sea is also playing out at national levels.
The Latin American nations of Colombia and Nicaragua, for instance, have for decades fought over a cluster of islands in the western Caribbean – and the fishing rights around them.
But the crisis has spurred a rethink of the island’s fishing industry, he said, with the government training fishermen to catch fish in other areas and make more of their catch.
These islands’ underwater riches might not last, however. In the last few decades, the oceans have undergone unprecedented warming while currents have shifted.
From the waters off the east coast of the United States to the coasts of West Africa, the changes are causing fish and other sea life to seek out new waters – leaving the communities that depend on them facing disruption as a result.
For other communities, fishing regulations present the most potent threat. — Reuters