Summary
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
Summary
The oceans have traditionally been taken for granted as a source of wealth, opportunity and abundance. The vastness of ocean space that fuelled our inspiration and curiosity, suggested that there could be few if any limits to its use or abuse. Our growing understanding of the oceans has fundamentally changed this perception. It has led to a growing appreciation not only of the importance of the oceans to social and economic progress but also of their vulnerability. We now know that abundance is giving way to scarcity, in some cases at an alarming rate, and to conflicts arising from their use.
Life on our planet is dependent upon the oceans. They provide us with food, energy and water and they sustain the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. They are the main highway for international trade as well as the main stabilizer of the world's climate. However, in the space of only a few decades the oceans have become the setting for an expanding list of problems. Territorial disputes that threaten peace and security, global climate change, overfishing, indiscriminate trawling, habitat destruction, species extinction, pollution, illegal trafficking, congested shipping lanes, clandestine movement of persons, piracy, terrorism, and the disruption of coastal communities are among the problems that today form an integral part of the unfolding drama of the oceans. At the same time, the oceans are revealing to us great potentials and opportunities.
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- The Ocean: Our Future , pp. 15 - 24Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998