Ocean governance at the millennium: where we have been — where we should go

Abstract During the last third of the twentieth century, there has been a world-wide effort to develop an effective ocean governance system. This has been done through major international treaties and conventions, through the operation of global and regional organisations, and through national ocean management efforts. How good have been the results? Are we moving in the right direction? What can we learn from the failures as well as successes? Will the twentieth-century efforts survive into the twenty-first century or must we change directions? Policy analysts should always ask questions concerning how well we have done before proposing policies for the future. But a change in century is a particularly good time for a stock-taking. That is the purpose of this paper. It attempts to ask the question — are we headed in the right direction? This is important to help correct errors and also may force us to recognise that the context of future ocean policy in the next century may be sufficiently different to cause us to rethink our priorities. 1