Post on 06-Feb-2018
Baltic Sea Governance: Challenge of Change Sunil Murlidhar SHASTRI University of Hull Waterpraxis Seminar Vilnius, Lithuania 11-12 January 2012
“There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things”
- Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1532)
“First they laugh at you, then they ignore you, then they fight you, then you win” “Be the change you want to see”
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Government and Governance • Government implies the making and enforcement of
decisions by a centralised formal authority
• Governance connotes a process in which there is close cooperation among actors (stakeholders) to achieve the desired objective
• Governance is the new buzzword in the development discourse
• Public sector management, transparency, legal framework, accountability and information are the key components of governance
• Selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, leadership (Standards in Public Life in the UK)
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Some key questions
• What are the uses/resources? – Rationae materiae
• Who has access to them? – Rationae personae
• Where/when are they exploited? – Rationae loci
• How to distribute them in an equitable manner? – Ex equo et bono
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Uses and Resources of the Sea
• Shipping and Navigation
• Resources: Living and Non-living
• Waste Disposal
• Strategic Uses
• Leisure and Tourism
• Pipelines and Cables
• Marine Scientific Research
• Biodiversity
• Conservation
• Habitat Management
• Climate Control
• Illegal uses
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Further boost to the interest
• Socio-economic necessity – Roti, kapda aur makan
• Political and cultural aspirations – Post-war Neo-independent countries
• Scientific discovery and technological possibility – Knowledge, exploitability and usability
• Wide-eyed science fiction – Writings of popular science, imagination
• (Pragmatism) – Rachel Carson and more recently, the IPCC
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Problems (opportunities?)
• Pressures on resources
• People’s aspirations
• Population and demographic patterns
• Powers: interest groups
• Political perceptions
• Poverty and prosperity
• Pollution: inevitable consequence
• Press
• Progress?
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“The global ocean is our great laboratory for the making of a new international order, based on new forms of international cooperation and organisation, on a new economic theory, on a new philosophy”
-Elisabeth Mann Borgese (1918-2002)
The Baltic Sea
• Enclosed and Coastal Sea
• Numerous rivers draining into it
• 9 surrounding nation States
• Perhaps the largest body of brackish water
• Susceptible to freezing?
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Governance of the Baltic – Global Influences
• 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (LDC)
• 1973 International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships (MARPOL) 1978
• 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
• 1992 Convention on Biodiversity (CBD)
• 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)
• 1995 Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities (GPA)
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Baltic Governance – Regional Influences
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• 1970s UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme
• 1970 EU Common Fisheries Policy (several reviews)
• 1992 Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention) – excludes the Baltic (and the Mediterranean)
– 1972 Oslo Convention and the 1974 Paris Convention
• 2000 EU Water Framework Directive
• 2008 EU Integrated Maritime Policy
• (2009 UK Marine and Coastal Access Act)
Baltic Governance
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• 1973 Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources in the Baltic Sea and the Belts
• 1974 Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea (The Baltic Convention)
– Influenced UNCLOS and the UNEP’s RSP – Superseded by the 1992 Baltic Convention – Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission
(HELCOM) is the Administering Body
• 1994 Agreement on Small Cetaceans in the North Sea and Baltic (under the 1979 Bonn Convention) ASCOBANS
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Impetus
Environment is in a SLUDGE
• Slightly
• Less
• Unsustainable
• Development of the
• Global
• Environment
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Transforming Principles to Jus Cogens
• Common concern
• Sustainable development
• Precautionary polluter pays principle
• Self-regulation
• Biodiversity conservation
• Intergenerational equity
• Integration and consensus
An overarching ecosystems approach
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UNCLOS and UNCED
• “Two mighty rivers that will change the future of global governance” (not just ocean or environmental governance)
• Two successive Secretary Generals of the UN, Boutros Boutros Ghali and Kofi Annan have alluded to this in their valedictions
• Their predecessor Javier Perez de Cueller was personally credited with bringing the UNCLOS back on course
• UNICPOLOS is an initiative to wrest the best from the multitude of global agreements
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My Approach: The MasterClass – Seven Pillars of Ocean and Environmental Governance
• Science and technology of resources
• Geopolitical economy of resources
• Institutions and organisations
• Legislation and implementation
• Role of the civil society
• Financial initiatives
• Education and awareness
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My involvement
• The work I do with organisations, local to global, in the area of ocean and environmental governance
• Contribution to discussions on the UK Marine Bill and EU Maritime Policy, among others
• Promoting better governance through numerous speaking engagements such as this one
• Involvement with range of Stakeholder Dialogues on marine and coastal issues
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Stakeholders
• Principle: “Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens” Rio, Declaratory Principle 10, 1992
• Definition: “Stakeholders are those individuals and/or groups that have a stake in a certain policy decision – they are impacting the decision or policy and/or are affected by it” Rio, AGENDA 21, 1992
• Stakeholders: “Women; Children and youth; indigenous people; NGOs; Local authorities; Trade unions; Business and industry; Science and technology; Farmers” Rio, AGENDA 21, 1992
“We don’t see change when it is happening; we see it only after it has happened”
-Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
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Just do it!
“It is not the end of the problem but the solution must begin somewhere”
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Thank you for listening!
Sunil Murlidhar SHASTRI E-mail: S.M.Shastri@hull.ac.uk Mobile: +44 7771 685414