A 50-year reflection on global ocean governance for protection of the marine environment

This chapter offers an overview of the challenges and evolution of global ocean governance for marine environment protection over the past five decades. Scientific reports continue to present a bleak picture of the oceans despite the increasing international environmental instruments on global ocean governance. Many old challenges facing ocean governance such as pollution and unsustainable exploitation of marine living resources remain unaddressed. Furthermore, new threats to the ocean and seas have emerged in recent decades. Marine plastic litter pollution is one such new threat. The problem of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing is another new challenge facing ocean governance. Despite these new challenges, there are positive developments such as calls for expansion of marine protected areas, the negotiations on a new treaty for the conservation of biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction, and the growing efforts to address the ocean-climate change problems including sea level rise. Absent urgent and innovative global governance measures, the health of the oceans and seas remain precarious.