The ocean is in the spotlight. This attention is driven by a growing appreciation of the multiple ways in which the state of the ocean is integrated with the interest and well-being of states, firms, communities, and people. Indeed, as Nature-Made Economy, The Outlaw Ocean, and A Blue New Deal point out, human relationships with the ocean take many different, and vital, but often antagonistic forms. We use the ocean for food production, for biodiversity conservation, as a source of fossil fuels and deep seabed minerals, as a pollution sink, and to expand the sovereign borders of states. We regulate these processes through a variety of different institutions and norms, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change; the UN Convention on Biological Diversity; and the accumulated actions of firms, nongovernmental organizations, and transnational activists.
Our attention...