Danger: iceberg ahead.

• Position: Includes related articles on United Nations

The Sea as Suitable Dump Site

Human economic activity for industrial growth and development has left man's fingerprints everywhere on the coastal margin, and encroachment on territorial waters proceeds at an alarming rate. The diversity of operations include offshore activities such as marine transportation, fishing, dumping of wastes and exploitation of crude oil and natural gas. The growing exploitation of the coast and open sea is a reflection of population increase, accelerating urbanization, greater affluence and faster transport trends. As a consequence, aquatic habitats are being lost irretrievably to industrial installations and civil constructions, to the development of tourist facilities and aquaculture, and to the rapid growth of coastal settlements and cities. Although difficult to quantify, the neglect and destruction of beaches and wetlands, including mangrove swamps, as well as the phenomenal erosion of the shoreline, continue to be unchecked. This trend can only lead to widespread deterioration in the quality and productivity of the marine environment.

The direction of technological development may solve some immediate problems, but may cause even greater ones in the long run. Settled agriculture, the diversion of water courses, the extraction of minerals, the emission of heat and noxious gases into the atmosphere, commercial forests and genetic manipulation are all examples of human intervention in natural systems during the course of development. Until recently, such interventions were small in scale and of limited impact. Today's intervention is more drastic in scale and impact, and more threatening to life support systems both locally and globally.

Beyond meeting basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, etc., there is the legitimate aspiration for improved quality of life. A society may in many ways compromise its ability to meet the essential needs of its people by over-exploiting resources; therefore, there is a need for sustainable development. Economic growth, it is felt, is intertwined with physical ecosystem. Exploitation needs to be planned. The effects of soil erosion rates, water regimes and genetic oloses have to be taken into account. Renewable resources, like forests and fish stock, need not be depleted, provided the rate of use is within the limits of regeneration and natural growth. To achieve this, maximum sustainable yield must be defined after taking into account the system-wide effects of exploitation...