Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
This need for ecological protection to be made effective through the
application of higher-level controls has, in part, been recognised in recent
moves towards the formation of marine policies, including in the United
States, Canada and Australia,
101
and in member states of the EU acting
under the stimulus of the Marine Framework Strategy Directive.
102
The development of single policies for use of the marine environment is
certainly an advance on the prior fragmentation of governance for sea uses
in these jurisdictions. However, the focus in legislative structures, which
have been developed for their implementation, remains on the management
of activities rather than on requiring that the resilience of marine ecosys-
tems be taken into account in the formation of policies for sea uses.
This indicates residual con
dence in the ability of science to improve
our understanding of how ecosystems function, and thereby to reduce
the ecological impacts of our activities to acceptable levels without
having to make dif
cult choices about the way we live and the resources
we exploit to maintain lifestyles. However, the picture of uncertainty,
unpredictability, complexity and human ignorance that emerges from a
review of the shifts which the understanding of ecosystems has under-
gone does not engender con
dence that efforts to improve our knowl-
edge of ecosystems and the impacts of activities on them can, on their
own, deliver effective ecological protection. Rather, what is needed is
a legal framework for making policy which requires that its contents
are informed by the ultimate objective of maintaining those aspects of
ecosystems from which they derive resilience. The overarching objective
of such a framework would be to engender the conditions that allow
ecosystems to adapt to change rather than controlling the impacts of
activities by reference to
xed indicators of their health. The emphasis
would be on the broad review of policy proposals and the cumulative
effects of how we act with a view to reducing stresses we place on natural
systems
'
across the board
'
.
nal section
of this chapter, I set out a range of principles
which, I argue, should inform the development of macro-level controls
on what activities receive governmental endorsement. In
Chapter 3
,
In the
101
A. A. Rosenberg et al.,
'
in K. McLeod and H. M. Leslie (eds) Ecosystem-based Management for the Oceans
(Washington, DC: Island Press, 2009), p. 294.
102
Council Directive 2008/56/EC of 17 June 2008 establishing a framework for community
action in the
eld of marine environmental policy [2008] OJ L 164/19.
'
Lessons fromNational-Level Implementation Across theWorld
