We now hunt faster and farther for marine-living resources, so the oceans can no longer be treated as a free-for-all, writes Klaus Toepfer
Delegates from around the globe are gathered in the South African city of Durban to chart the way forward for the world's national parks and protected areas.
It is well over 100 years since the creation of the first modern protected area - Yellowstone National Park in the US. More than 11 per cent of the Earth's land surface has now been afforded protection and there are countless examples of success stories for both people and wildlife as a result.
The same, however, cannot be said for the marine world. Indeed figures to be released by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) at the World Conservation Union's fifth World Park Congress will show that less than 1 per cent of the oceans and seas have been given the same kind of protection. It is not all doom and gloom. Australia, for example, has just unveiled proposals to create large swathes of so-called "no-take areas" across Queensland's Great Barrier Reef. These "no-take areas", in which fishing and extractive industries such as mining and dredging will be banned, will cover roughly one-third of the 350,000 sq km marine park, up from just under 5 per cent now.
The tourism industry, which generates nearly €3 billion annually for the local and national economy and employs more than 47,000 people, is delighted. They believe the scheme will increase the number and size of fish for visitors to see, and improve and expand good snorkelling and diving sites.
Norway has stepped up action to protect its Tisler and Fjellknausen deep cold-water reefs.
The six west African countries of Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal have announced plans for a network of marine protected areas aimed at reducing over-fishing and possible threats from oil exploration.
But we need to do far more to ensure that oceans and their rich and varied lifeforms, upon which billions depend for food and livelihoods, are secured for current and future generations. Much of the marine world lies hidden beneath the waves, and the movements and lifestyles of its denizens have until recent decades remained a mystery. Unlike the land, where issues of ownership, of title deeds, of customary rights and of management are far better established, the oceans have been viewed as true wilderness areas owned by no one and free for all.
Fine in a world of plenty, when explorers like Cabot encountered so much cod off the east coast of North America his vessels were slowed by the sheer density of the shoals. Fine in a world where the summit of ocean-going technology was the sail and the dug-out canoe.
But the ability to hunt faster and farther for ever greater quantities of marine-living resources, and the growth in the global population where more than 40 per cent now live by the coast, means the oceans can no longer be treated as an unmanaged free-for-all. The coming into force of the UN Law of the Sea Convention, the development of regional fisheries agreements and initiatives such as UNEP's Regional Seas Programme are among some of the recent developments that are focusing attention on the marine world.
Many fishermen's organisations, appalled by the collapse of stocks and livelihoods, are demanding action too. They also realise that the unfettered use of the drift net, the bottom trawl and the purse seine means there will nothing of value left to catch in a few years.
Last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development and its plan of implementation gives governments, in partnership with industry and civil society, a blueprint for action, including for oceans. Among its recommendations are initiatives to restore fish stocks where possible to healthy levels by 2015 and to advance the implementation of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) to reduce the threat of pollution.
Significantly, it also urges the establishment of a global network of marine protected areas.
Big questions remain, not least in areas of funding and enforcement, especially in developing countries. But there is growing evidence that well-managed marine protected areas not only cover their costs, but can generate substantial income for the benefit of local people and national economies.
Costa Rica's tourist industry, based around a well-developed and well-managed network of both terrestrial and marine areas, is generating around $300 million a year - far more than it costs to maintain these areas.
The theme of this year's congress is "Benefits Beyond Boundaries". It is time to wholeheartedly support the early stirrings of this worldwide movement to protect marine areas, so that there are no longer artificial boundaries between the land and the oceans.
It can no longer be a question of whether we need marine parks, but how many and how big. Otherwise our grandchildren will, as with the dodo, learn about the turtles, the dugongs and the coral reefs at the knees of a history teacher, and we will have the tough job of explaining what a fish is.