PORTUGAL AND FUTURE OCEAN CHALLENGES

 

I offer a few comments on what I think will be some of the major challenges to Portugal and its Atlantic “dialogue” in coming years, and here I mean both North and South “Atlantics”, toward the balanced growth, and sustainable management desired by all of us. In fact, in my opinion, it is now beyond just being “desirable”….. it has become absolutely essential that stronger leadership rise up and command the responsible organizations to react faster with more aggressive measures to stop the abuses from shipping, fishing, polluters, acidification and climate change from destroying the ocean ecosystems.

 

Many of the more obvious ocean challenges, which are known generally to all, range from deciding on an effective and forceful regime of rules for proper ocean governance, at the highest levels, down to law enforcement against pollution and overfishing, among many others abuses, on specific levels. Of course, policy instruments exist, but vary widely in their adoption or enforcement because of inadequate political commitment by ocean nations. This, in my view, as in most cases which deal with sustainability issues, largely results from the poor understanding by the general public, by uninformed political leaders, and poor mobilization of the economic forces that could scale up these challenges to higher political priority.

 

Portugal is doing its best to be proactive and show leadership with its new marine strategy 2013-2020, developed and promulgated in 2013, but it faces tough challenges to regain its true identity as an historical maritime nation. As Administrador of the Luso American Foundation, I attempted to bring Portuguese and American marine policy specialists together on numerous occasions to hammer out innovative, but improved, forms for transatlantic policy dialogue, seeking new alternatives to older policy thinking. And I learned how forcefully Portugal fights for better ocean governance, and is aggressively working to adopt best practices in Spatial Planning and Marine Protected Areas in its coastal zones, and enforcing guidelines of international standards. But the big future battles may, in fact, face Portugal and other ocean nations in policing the high seas, beyond the territorial and EEZ boundaries, which has now become the focus of the challenges being proposed under the Global Ocean Commission initiated by the Pew Charitable Trusts in the United States.

 

This new program of the Global Ocean Commission was just announced in February, 2014, and I think deserves our attention at: www.globaloceancommission.org. Numerous NGOs, civic organizations and foundations have dedicated years and millions of dollars to undertake research on all the global ocean challenges, to achieve reforms in ocean policy and governance, but this Commission constitutes perhaps the newest, and hopefully the toughest mobilization of forces to date. This Commission’s mandate is aimed at developing bold new policies for the high seas, beyond EEZs, and will focus attention on emerging issues, seabed mining, biological industry services, climate and biodiversity in critical dimensions, and the huge challenge of adopting MPAs in the high seas. This latter may be the future mega-challenge.

 

At the same time, the very impressive “Atlantic Future” program (www.atlanticfuture.eu) of the European Union, started in early 2013 and extending to the end of 2015, will study the dynamics of the Atlantic Basin, and look hard at interactions and potential conflicts among all Atlantic coastal nations, North and South, and project scenarios for future relations among nations.

 

Recall that this Southern Atlantic perspective, of increasing relevance, was the focus of, and very well discussed, in the book launched in the Luso American Foundation, in 2013, entitled “The Fractured Ocean” edited by John Richardson of the German Marshall Fund of the U.S.. This book is available on the GMF website www.gmfus.org (under the “Wider Atlantic Series” in the Publications section.) The authors describe well the increases in economic activity across the Southern Atlantic, as with the commerce and the exploding energy production (Brazil, Angola, Guinea Gulf, South Africa) and the newer threats of drug trafficking, human smuggling and piracy, all of which are projected to expand.  The book concludes with a future perspective by the authors as follows:

  

“In order for future economic activity to be sustainable and criminal actions to be frustrated, it is urgent that an Atlantic Basin consciousness be fostered and that a program of exchange of ideas, experiences, and expertise, leading to common projects for improving governance, be put in place. A forum needs to be immediately created within which the southern countries can both share their own ideas and profit from the experience of the North. This could be a non-governmental undertaking sponsored by governments, businesses, and philanthropic institutions.”

 

Here we have a look into the future and we see not only a challenge for Portugal but the grand opportunity for Portugal to share in the leadership for reaching this goal. Portugal has the skills, and experience, to play a leading role, but I feel it must use its knowledge base to advantage under stronger, and more “resonating”, leadership. This means consciously seeking higher identity as a key player in designing the future strategy for the Southern Atlantic.