Wanted in the South China Sea: more marine peace parks
- Coastal nations around the world are turning to marine protected areas in an attempt to safeguard their oceans, promote biodiversity and increase sustainability
- In addition to aiding conservation efforts, these ‘blue parks’ can reach across international boundaries to help prevent conflict and promote cooperation
Among those, the Marine Conservation Institute has recently identified three remarkable ones for the annual Blue Park award: Tristan da Cunha which is part of a British overseas territory, Gitdisdzu Lugyeks in Canada and Siete Pecados Marine Park in the Philippines. These parks have joined a growing network of 30 distinguished “blue parks” worldwide, all striving to knit together a protective web for marine life to safeguard critical habitats, foster resilience and preserve the unparalleled beauty of the oceans.
However, the pursuit of blue parks faces significant challenges as it aims to harmonise ecological, climate and biodiversity goals within existing policies spanning national boundaries. Successful transboundary conservation demands cooperation and coordination among the concerned states.
Scientist and author Callum Roberts wrote in his book The Ocean of Life that our oceans are undergoing rapid changes unlike any others seen in Earth’s history, and he emphasises that humans are the primary drivers of this transformation.
This sentiment is common among marine experts, underscoring the global scope of human influence and the urgent need for collective action to mitigate the impacts of our activities. Roberts writes that “the geologic record gives us more than enough reasons to terrify us into action”.
The South China Sea was also on the agenda at last month’s Westpac International Marine Science Conference, which was held in Bangkok in concert with the second UN Ocean Decade Regional Conference. A forum on local environment management, ecosystem coordination and sustainable use in the South China Sea said “improvement of [marine protected area] effectiveness is needed to reverse the degradation of habitats and living resources at the local level,” according to the programme’s lead convenor Vo Si Tuan.
In particular, they have established specially protected areas to safeguard coastal and marine ecosystems in the region, ensuring their long-term viability and maintaining biological diversity. It is noteworthy that almost two dozen Mediterranean governments and the European Union recognised the required collective effort to address marine pollution, resulting in coordinated policies and jointly monitored research efforts.
The newly formed Transnational Red Sea Centre, designed to protect the ecosystems in the region, offers a promising example of regional science collaboration. Developed in cooperation and with support from the Foreign Ministry of Switzerland, the centre’s objective affirms that no region is so prone to conflict as to place science cooperation beyond reach.
In recognising that effective policy shifts necessitate a consensus of knowledge and concerted political action, coastal nations are striving to chart a course towards a more sustainable future.
James Borton is a non-resident senior fellow at Johns Hopkins/SAIS Foreign Policy Institute and the author of Dispatches from the South China Sea: Navigating to Common Ground
Vu Hai Dang is an expert at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam