A world at war is unlikely to save the oceans

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The world has come together in France this week to look for a way to save our oceans. It is no doubt an important mission, but it seems like an impossible one in our world of conflict.
The third UN Ocean Conference in southern France is focused on adopting strict rules to govern deep-sea mining and has warned against racing to exploit the ocean floor, in a thinly veiled rebuke of the US. But one look at the real problems and adversities affecting the viability of our oceans goes beyond one's imagination, especially since the actions to limit the damage do not measure up across the board.
The anxiety of those gathered in Nice, including French President Emmanuel Macron, is justified, but not only due to the madness of certain predatory economic steps taken by individual countries that could harm the seabed, disrupt biodiversity and release irrecoverable carbon sinks in the name of profit and dominance. Scientists have also been warning about ocean acidification. Oceans are known to absorb about 30 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions and that starts chains of chemical reactions that result in increased acidity, which in turn affects human and marine life.
Although geoengineering is offering some respite to the conscience of some, the science of manipulating the Earth's natural processes to try to solve the problem chemically or through other inventions is still in its infancy. Its efficiency has not been tested over time, despite the billions of dollars of investment poured into the adoption of such unproven solutions.
Scientists claim that the oceans are today at the mercy of the evil twin of the climate crisis — and that is the reduction of their pH levels due to carbon dioxide being rapidly absorbed. It then reacts with water molecules, leading to the oceans becoming increasingly acidic.
Headline-grabbing statements like those of the UN secretary-general, who warned at this week's conference that the world should not let the deep sea 'become the wild west,' could go a long way toward focusing minds. But this will not stop powerful nations vying for control and economic supremacy amid the tussle over contentious rules on mining and conservation. Nor will it heal the oceans for the benefit of both humanity and the sea creatures that are vital in making our world livable.
The mission of delegates to turn promises into protection and to deliver action is quite challenging
Mohamed Chebaro
Similarly, the mission of delegates to turn promises into protection and to deliver action, rather than more rhetoric, to protect our ever-warming, distressed oceans is quite challenging. A modest 8 percent of the world's oceans are currently designated as marine protected areas, despite a globally agreed target of 30 percent by 2030. The failings are staring us in the face. This is despite the efforts of some countries, such as Greece, Brazil and Spain, which have rushed to put chunks of their national waters under protection by creating marine parks. Such action is often challenged by a lack of funding and limited enforcement, while it is especially challenging for squeezed smaller nations to emulate.
The efforts by countries like France and the UK to ban some fishing methods, such as bottom trawling in marine protected areas, must be applauded despite the fact that they do not go far enough for economic reasons. Bottom trawling involves huge fishing nets being indiscriminately dragged over the ocean floor, rendering natural regeneration and the replenishment of sea life nearly impossible.
This conference will, unfortunately, be little more than a talking shop and another missed opportunity. This time it is not only because of bickering between the Global North and the Global South, rich versus poor, but because geopolitical competition between superpowers is rendering the minimal multilateral action taken to save the oceans ineffective. This is a world dominated by greed-driven economic competition and exploitation, dwindling resources and more false and misinformed narratives than undivided truth, to the point that trust has largely vanished.
Another key point is that a world that is unable to stop the killing in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan is unlikely, sadly, to get its act together and save the future of the oceans — the lungs of our ecosystem that are today breathing with difficulty.
The conference in Nice, like many other similar meetings, will console itself if a last-minute flurry of signatures ensures the ratification of the High Seas Treaty to protect international waters, which make up 60 percent of the world's oceans. Whether it will be binding or not is subject to its implementation and enforcement. Macron told reporters this week that 55 nations have ratified the treaty, only five shy of the number required for it to come into effect early next year.
Admitting that global warming is human-made and that action is needed to remedy it, through science and business and the transformation of economic and social models that would take decades and a lot of money to enact, is one thing. Consensus regarding treaties and conventions is another, as countries each rightly put their national interests first and common interests last.
Above all, in a world where narratives of conflict dominate and geopolitical calculations fail to align, failures are recorded on every level and in a disheartening fashion. It seems like nations have ample resources to invest in war and very little for protecting the planet and its oceans.
• Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years' experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy.

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