Ocean governance in post-modern society—a geographical perspective

The contradiction between the claim for integrated management of the coastal areas by the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, 1992), on the one hand, and the persistence of analytical epistemological approaches by the scientific community on the other, is discussed. In this context, it is emphasised how the modern approach led to the desegregation of the ocean into two realms, namely the coastal ocean subject to national jurisdiction, and the international ocean, making it difficult to design and operate integrated management. Moreover, the international ocean is vertically subdivided into two realms, namely the water column, having the status of res nullius, and the deep seabed, claimed as patrimony of mankind; hence the increasing difficulty in operating the protection of the ocean ecosystem and the efficient use of its resources while the human pressure on the ocean is growing without precedent. A positive feedback is needed between science and policy, the former being encouraged to overcome the analytical, modern approach; the latter being keen to consider the long term humankind-sensitive interest above the national interests. The role of geography in contributing to these prospects is discussed in the final part.