Stiftungsprogramme

Sustainable Oceans: Reconciling Economic Use and Protection

Following on from the Dräger Foundation's XVII Malente Symposium in 2008, entitled 'More than Water - Oceans and Global Responsibility', the Foundation - in cooperation with The Earth Institute of Columbia University in New York, NY, and the IFM-GEOMAR in Kiel, Germany, and with support of the EU Commission, DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and others - is planning further conferences devoted to the subject of 'Sustainable Oceans: Reconciling Economic Use and Protection'.

Under the High Patronage of S.A.S. Le Prince Albert II de Monaco the three events (Hamburg 2011, New York 2012, Lisbon 2013) will take the form of non-public high-level expert conferences with approximately 80 to 90 international participants from the fields of politics, business, academia, international organizations, and NGOs.

The first conference of the series already took place in Hamburg from June 29- July 1, 2011 and was devoted to 'The Use of the Ocean's Energy Resources, Risk Management and the Need for Regulation'. Because Hamburg is the 'Green Capital of Europe' in 2011, the city was ideally suited - as first conference venue - to generating and utilizing synergetic effects. The conference was a great success and the topics that were discussed attracted a lot of German media attention.

One of the key questions of the conference was how the oceans can be researched and their resources utilized while at the same time protecting them from the consequences of unfettered exploitation. Economic benefits need to be weighed up against the costs, which- especially in the case of deep-sea drilling - must realistically include an assessment of potential risks and the costs of establishing an efficient international system of crisis management.

This applies not only to the economic exploitation of marine resources in coastal regions subject to national law, but particularly also to areas outside national territorial waters (known as 'The Area'), where there are currently no internationally binding laws - despite the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) - which would allow this type of unrestricted and ecologically risky exploitation to be prevented, controlled or punished. There is, in other words, an urgent need to expand international law to include these areas and to implement enforcement mechanisms with a view to preserving the balance between business and ecology. A coordinated, comprehensive and transparent offshore management regime is required, especially when it comes to the use of energy and other mineral resources.

One of the intentions of this conference was to help establish the European Ocean Commission of the DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, to foster cooperation with the U.S. Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, and to help initiate a joint EU-US 'White Paper' on the state of the oceans and coasts for politics and business. To this end, methods were developed in order to evaluate the many scientific results in such a way as to allow them to be understood and utilized in politics and business, irrespective of lobby influences.