But the value of legal instruments is dependent on how far they are respected and enforced. This planet does not belong to the adults of today and should not be managed on the basis of short-term considerations of economic gain or political power. If the signatures of our children were needed to ratify decisions that affect their future, many of the destructive actions perpetrated today would certainly cease. Whatever we do, the ocean will survive in one way or another. What is more problematic is whether we shall preserve it in a state that ensures humanity s survival and well-being.
Time is short, and the issue is in the balance.
The United Nations has declared 1998 the International Year of the Ocean as a celebration of this source of life and civilisation.