Theme 2 Seas and Oceans Short PDF

# Theme 1: Seas, Oceans at the core of Globalization ## Introduction: Brainstorming about globalization, seas and oceans around the world ### Definition of globalization Globalization: The process by which people, governments or companies previously in some separated parts of the world begin to b...

# Theme 1: Seas, Oceans at the core of Globalization ## Introduction: Brainstorming about globalization, seas and oceans around the world ### Definition of globalization Globalization: The process by which people, governments or companies previously in some separated parts of the world begin to be interconnected on a global scale. They are now sharing their ideas and their activities (economic, cultural, political activities) thanks to a rapid increase in cross-border economic, social, cultural, technological exchanges under conditions of capitalism. Globalization increases the interaction and integration between countries and between people. It has speeded up over the last half-century after the downfall of the iron curtain. ### Three major waves of globalization: - **First era:** Discovery of America in the 15th century and the rise of global trade. - **The second era of globalization:** Industrial revolution and the colonization process which ended dramatically with the First World War and 1929 (isolationism and nationalism) as the World became disconnected. - **Third one:** Current one from 1945 to now **GATT (General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade) 1948:** The countries which signed the agreements began progressively to reduce their tariffs. **Bretton-Woods agreement, 1944:** Set up a new global monetary system between the industrial states. Globalization is a geo-political and geo-economic concept because it's a world-system (système-monde) linking most of the territories around the world. It was created by the most powerful states and it indicates the relations and tensions between countries around the world: multipolar world today. It is mostly based on the use, the control and the appropriation of the oceans and seas around the world. ## 1. The maritimization of the economies at the heart of the globalization process because of the resources of the oceans and of the seas, and the material and immaterial flows ### 1.1 Seas and oceans provide massive amounts of natural resources The maritime areas represent a huge part of the world (71% of the world area = 361M square km). Below the seabed are located between 1/3 of the gas resources and ¼ of the oil resources. - **Offshore oil and gas and other mineral resources** Offshore oil and gas are now accessible: improvement of the offshore drilling techniques. Offshore drilling: Mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum. - 4,000 production facilities on the Continental Shelf. - 2022: 30% of the world's oil and over 40% of the world's gas production came from offshore fields. - Three largest offshore oil fields: Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. **→ Ecological risks:** Oil spills from transportation from the platform to onshore facilities, and leaks. The ocean floors are also mined to find resources: diamonds, gold, silver, metal ores, gravels, sands and gas hydrates. Mining the ocean can be devastating to the natural ecosystems resulting in widespread destruction of marine animal habitats. ### 1.2 Material and immaterial flows across the seas and oceans, at the core of globalization - **Shipping containers to link forelands and hinterlands around the world: material flows** **Shipping:** Refers to the activity of moving cargo with ships in between seaports. **Types of ships:** Tankers, crude oil ships, product ships, chemical ships, bulk carriers, cable layers, general cargo ships, offshore supply vessels, ferries, gas/car carriers, tugboats, barges, dredgers. According to the International Chamber of Shipping, there are more than 50,000 merchant ships operating in the oceans currently. Boats represent the vast majority of the transport between continents: 80% of the intercontinental transportation of goods, with a massive increase of the exchange of manufactured goods. **→ Revolution in the transport by sea with the container ships** Before, goods were unpacked and loaded onto the ships at the port (more time, manpower, money). The container has made it possible for large ships to be designed to transport huge quantities of material, increasing global trade dramatically. **Container ports (ex: Singapore):** Are specially designed to load and unload the containers quickly and efficiently making the import and export of goods affordable for manufacturers and traders. **Containerization:** The development of standardized metal containers for container ships. #### History of the containers: - **1792:** Boxes similar to containers were transported with horse and wagon and later via rail (England). The U.S. government used containers during the Second World War. Modern container shipping: **1956**, an American entrepreneur bought a steamship company with the idea of transporting entire truck trailers with their cargo still inside. - **1966:** 1st international voyage: “Fairland” (U.S. to Rotterdam) with 256 containers. **→ Largest container ship:** OOCL Hong Kong, with a capacity of 21 000 TEU serving under the flag of Hong Kong. **→ 3rd largest one:** CMA CGM Antoine De Saint Exupéry with a capacity of 20,656 TEU (largest under the French flag) was launched in 2018. It is an environment-friendly vessel, ensuring significant reductions in oil consumption (-25%) and Carbon-di-oxide emissions (-4%). It has a system of filters and UV, which ensures greater protection of marine biodiversity. **Revolution in the shipping industry:** It creates a very modern, fast and simple interaction with other ways of transportation → multimodal platform. Containerization revolutionized haulage by reducing transshipment times and replacing large numbers of workers with crane technology: roll on and roll off. The (onshore) hinterland and the oceanic foreland are easily and quickly connected. **Huge increase of the transport by sea because of the decrease of the cost:** Businesses can ship products and raw materials all over the world more easily. **→ Cheaper and faster to import toys from China than to manufacture them in Europe. /Sending a container from Shanghai to Marseille is cheaper than carrying it by truck from Marseille to Avignon.** The use of containers has transformed the global cargo trade and there are now around 10,000 container ships travelling between international ports. **Biggest container ships:** 400 trains, 1,000 A 380 Airbus and 20,000 trucks: economies of scale. **Largest container trade route east to west:** Transpacific (between China and the US). **China:** One of the main global suppliers and handles more containers than any other nation. #### Top 10 busiest container ports in 2020 (all in Asia, 6 in PRC): 1. Shanghai, China, 2. Singapore 3. Shenzhen 4. Ningbo-Zhoushan, China, (now the most important one worldwide when all traffic is included: containers, minerals, oil and gas...) 5. Busan, South Korea 6. Hong Kong 7. Guangzhou 8. Qingdao 9. Jebel Ali, Dubai, 10. Tianjin. #### Arguments developed in favor of the containers: - Made possible to meet the needs of the world's growing population by importing and exporting more goods: more choice and with choices from entirely different cultures, they connect countries, peoples and markets., they boost economies and increase employment… - The most efficient way to transport large volumes of goods across the world: airplanes are faster, container ships can carry more goods in one trip (hundreds of airplanes / one large container ship). - Transporting goods in large volumes makes it cheaper – it is called 'economies of scale'. - Better for the environment: a container ship emits 40 times less CO2 than a large freight aircraft and 3 times less than a heavy truck. **But 60% of the traffic is made with flags of convenience: no control, no taxes, so very small cost but to the detriment of nature and workers. Much more accidents and risk of oil slick.** ### Flag of convenience Each merchant ship is required by international law to be registered in a registry created by a country, and a ship is subject to the laws of that country. However, many commercial ships are registered under a flag that does not match the nationality of the vessel owner.: 2019, one half of all ships owned by Japanese entities were registered in Panama. Registering a ship in a foreign country enables one to avoid the regulations of the owners’ country (escape stricter safety and environmental standards; to reduce operating costs, avoiding higher taxes; bypassing laws that protect the wages and working conditions of mariners). **2019: Flags of convenience countries → 35 (Panama, Marshall Islands and Liberia).** **50% of the world's commercial fleet is registered under flags of convenience.** - **Cables and immaterial flows are central to globalization** **Immaterial flows:** Are cash/financial flows between countries, companies or individuals, but also communication flows. **Compression of the world:** Reduction of distance and time (travels, communications, politics, trades, news…): strong symbol of globalization as it is a worldwide but also very selective process. **1st submarine communications cables:** 1850s carried telegraphy traffic, instant telecom links between continents → first transatlantic telegraph cable I in 1858 between Europe and the USA. Subsequent generations of cables carried telephone traffic, then data communications traffic. **2020:** Over 1.3 million kilometers of submarine cables in service globally (32 times around the earth) 99% of the data traffic that is crossing oceans is carried by undersea cables. Submarine communications cables are laid on the seabed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. (highly reliable and expensive) They are valued not only by the corporations building and operating them, but also by governments. **→ Australian government considers its submarine cable systems to be "vital to the national economy"** ### 1.3 Seas and oceans have been and still are places of migration for people: Human flows #### Migration: the paradox of the globalization process Maritime areas are also the theater of migration of people since the early ages of History: european discoverers and conquistadores on the American shores → Transatlantic slave trade forced between 10 to 15 million African slaves to cross the Atlantic Ocean to be enslaved from Brazil to the United States, from the 16th to the 19th century. The settlement of the United States, Canada and Australia was based on massive human migrations made by the seas and oceans from Europe. Today's migrations are made of boat people, economic migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea. #### Analysis of the Migration through the Mediterranean Sea: European countries have closed safe and legal options for people to reach Europe. Migrants are forced to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe pushing them further into people smugglers' networks. European countries attempt to stem migration by strengthening national borders and bolstering detention facilities outside of their borders. Migrants and refugees are forced into squalid detention centers that lack adequate food and water. As migrants cross the sea on overcrowded and ill-equipped inflatable boats, they are at very high-risk of overturning/capsizing and sinking. Migration charities believe that 20,000 people may have died at sea trying to reach Europe in the last two decades. In 2019, one person died in the Central Mediterranean for every 10 who arrive in Europe by sea. Some have been helped and rescued by NGOs (MSF: Aquarius in partnership with SOS MEDITERRANEE, and the Ocean Viking). The survivors must often face violence-related injuries resulting from time in detention, torture and other ill-treatment, including sexual violence and rape. **Migration/human flows represent a strong paradox of the globalization process.** Globalization has been driven by increasing flows of goods and capital, made possible by the gradual lowering of barriers to their movement across borders, by liberalization of trade and investment . **BUT countries did not deregulate barriers for the flow of people.** In fact, most countries have largely resisted liberalizing migration policies. #### Tourism in the maritime areas: coastal tourism and cruises **Tourism:** Fastest growing division of the world economy providing 200 million jobs all over the world. - 700 million people traveling to another country each year, - tourism is in the top 5 economic contributors to 83% **Tourism is a significant source of pressure on natural resources.** **Coastal tourism:** Land-based tourism activities taking place on the coast for which the proximity to the sea is a condition. It is based on natural resources present in each country but usually negatively affects ecosystems because it is often left unmanaged: - development of coastal habitats and the annihilation of entire ecosystems, - visitors produce more waste than locals: ends up (untreated sewage) dumped in the ocean. - overexploitation of local seafood: destruction of local habitats that lead to the loss of biodiversity. **Sustainable tourism:** New trend that favors low impact tourism and fosters a respect for local cultures and ecosystems → promote conservation of the environment. **Maritime tourism:** Sea-based activities. **Tourism along and on the seas and oceans: cruises → 26 million cruise tourists in 2018.** The main region for cruising: North America. The Mediterranean (15%) remains in second place. Cruises are also a source of considerable ecological pressure including water, noise and coastal pollution and seabed destruction → huge environmental impacts: increasing number of cruises in the Arctic / Antarctic Oceans impossible to clean the areas in case of oil slick or other damages. ## 2. Oceans and seas are unequally integrated into globalization: a selective process ### 2.1. Maritime activities, as cores, are mainly located at the interfaces of globalization Maritime facades are major interfaces for globalization because of the “littoralization” of the economy → interface: area of contact between two systems, the oceanic foreland and the onshore hinterland, having an effect on each other. **→ Littoralization:** Tendency for economic development, urbanization… to cluster along a coastline. **Ports are today major maritime gateways.** The main maritime facades are the ones of the extended former Triad in Europe (Northern Range), North America and the southern and eastern Asian maritime facades. They are extremely dynamic and integrated into the globalization process. These maritime facades also gather people (market and labor force) and industries producing goods and are part of the three main cores of the globalization process (cultural, economic, political). **World scale:** Flows created by globalization process are very localized in Northern America, Western Europe and Eastern Asia → leaders of regional blocs, are the wealthiest; they are the core of globalization because they gather financial, economic, technological, intellectual, political and military powers: 80% of the world GDP for only 20% of the world population. - 72% of the world's industries (most industrialized countries). - 75% of the world trade, mainly trade within each economic zone - 92% of the world market capitalisation between the main Stock Exchanges - 85% of the world research and universities **Ports and other gateway centers serve the regions that surround them, more important gateways serve very large regions while less important hubs serve smaller regions.** **→ Hinterland:** Land space over which a transport terminal, place of convergence for the traffic, sells its services and interacts with its users. It regroups all the customers directly bonded to the terminal and the land areas from which it draws and distributes traffic. The ports of the Northern Range is a major interface thanks to a very developed hinterland. The Northern Range extends itself from Le Havre to Hamburg, it connects Europe with world trade by being the second trading coastline in the world, after the Yellow Sea and representing 10% of the world’s trade. The Northern Range is divided in three sectors: 1- Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam 2- Le Havre 3- Hamburg and Bremen. However, the Northern Range faces a number of issues: - Access to the sea is a constant struggle for ports at the end of estuaries. Improvements like deepening the navigable channels have been made with time in most European ports to be able to receive bigger ships or to improve maritime traffic. - The English Channel is considered to be the most congested sea in the world. - The coastal area is a cause of conflicts; territories fight to have industrial, fishing and touristic zones that are part of the Northern Channel. ### 2.2. Some countries used their maritime facades to integrate globalization while others are remaining excluded from this selective process: integrated and marginalized peripheries **→Integrated Peripheries: CONVERGENCE** This convergence phenomenon is mainly true for the most dynamics areas in the South; but the economic growth of each member of the BRICS must be nuanced today. New places of globalization are developed in the South mainly where TNCs are relocating their activities. These places are close to the coasts, but developed only if they are linked with some megalopolises. #### Some peripheries are integrated because - supply and export raw material, but it creates some huge social and economic inequalities - offer a very cheap labor force (“workshop countries" then exported to MEDCs). #### Advantage of the lack of regulations or/and of the lack of taxes to develop their economies: - 15 micro-states are hosting 60% of the world fleet thank to their flag of convenience (almost exclusively islands and maritime countries) - 3,000 free-trade zones are gathering 43 million workers (designated area, as of a city, where certain taxes or restrictions on business or trade do not apply). - 70 tax havens (countries that have little or no income taxation) used by companies and wealthy people to not pay taxes (Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Singapore...). #### Example of a tax haven: Bermuda Bermuda features a 0 percent corporate tax rate, as well as no personal income tax attracting U.S. multinational companies such as Nike to boost profits: from 2005 to 2014, Nike shifted large sums of money to Bermuda by opening a subsidiary called Nike International Ltd "it charged large trademark loyalty fees to Nike's European headquarters," reports The Guardian. So, the company was able to move profits from Europe to Nike International Ltd in Bermuda, according to the report. #### An example of Free-Trade zone in Panama, the port of Colon The Colón Free Trade Zone, located near the Panama Canal's Atlantic entrance, is the largest free port in the Americas and the second-largest globally. Established in 1948, it hosts 1,751 companies and serves as a key hub for re-exporting merchandise to Latin America, the Caribbean, and other global destinations. Renowned as the "trading showcase" of Central and South America, the zone provides modern facilities, including container ports, direct highway access, and daily container trains between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Businesses in the free zone benefit from tax exemptions, making it a significant supplier to various international free zones. **Small islands are integrated into globalization because they have a strategic location.** Malta and the Reunion Island are both major hubs for the CMA CGM shipowner. Also, the US army has built military bases on many small islands in the different oceans in order to be able to act, intervene and project troops in needed: **… some marginalized peripheries have not been able to use their access to maritime areas to develop their economies** 1/3 of the world population is at the margin of globalization and impacted by globalization without being able to influence it.: LEDCs (Least Economically developed Countries): most of them are Sub-Saharan Africa countries (33 / 50 countries → Gathering their GDP = Austria's GDP) and some in the Pacific (small islands). Although a significant number of them are landlocked countries, some benefit from maritime access without managing to use it as a major asset enabling them to integrate successfully into globalization. #### Some of the worst failed/fragile States today with a maritime facade - **A failed state:** Is a political body that has disintegrated to a point where basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government no longer function properly - **ERITREA:** Suffered from military clashes with the Ethiopians and years of failed governance. Eritrea scores worst on human rights, demographic pressures, and legitimacy of state. - **NORTH KOREA:** Human rights violations are rampant, and aid organizations estimate more than 2 million have died since the mid-1990s over food shortages alone. ## 2.3. Maritime roads reinforce this selective process, fostering hubs and forgetting other territories The shipping boats go through the main maritime shipping routes (start from China, passing through the Mediterranean Sea, India, Suez Canal, the USA, Panama, and back to China. Additionally, ships may use secondary routes to reach Australia via South Africa or Brazil). **Configuration of the global system:** The main axis is a circum-equatorial corridor linking North America, Europe, and Pacific Asia through the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca, and the Panama Canal. These routes support the bulk of the traffic, but numerous other routes exist. **Transatlantic and transpacific traffic concerns a wide variety of ports:** Trans-Indian ocean traffic is dominantly intermediary traffic between Pacific Asia and Europe, implying a series of more clearly defined routes, between the Strait of Malacca and Bab el-Mandab. The rest of the oceans and seas, mainly the Southern Atlantic and the South-Eastern Pacific, remain out of these main maritime routes. Population living in these areas remain excluded from globalization as the location they live in massively impacts their capacity to trade, to import and export goods at a cheap price. ## 3. Geostrategic stakes and power rivalries are increased by major changes taking place ### 3.1. Islands, canals and straits: strategic chokepoints for globalization **Choke points:** Obligatory points of passage strategic in terms of geography, geopolitics and maritime trade: straits (Malacca, Gibraltar, Hormuz). Physical constraints and political borders also play an important role in shaping maritime routes. As a result, core routes are those supporting the most important commercial shipping flows servicing major markets. Secondary routes are mostly connectors between smaller markets. #### Chokepoints can be classified into two main categories: **Primary chokepoints:** Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca, which are key locations in the global trade of goods and commodities. **Secondary chokepoints:** Alternatives (Magellan Passage, the Dover Strait…). #### Example: Panama Canal, at the center of geoeconomic and geostrategic tensions The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific, it was completed in August 1914 and is one of the two most strategic artificial waterways in the world, (the other being the Suez Canal). The canal welcomes 5% of the global trade volume nevertheless 10% of the world's container ships are too big to go through the canal. It had been improved in order to welcome longer and bigger boats in 2001 (Panamax). And a second project in 2016 doubled the canal's capacity to allow the passage of a new generation of supersized ships, dubbed "neo-Panamax”. - **Time gain:** - east / west of the USA: 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) - North America / South America: 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) - Europe and East Asia: 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) - **Economic and political importance of the canal** It remains of great political and economic importance: Panama's chief revenue source. The Panama Canal, established in 1914 and initially under exclusive US control, transitioned to joint management by the United States and Panama in 1979 through the Panama Canal Commission. Complete control was transferred to Panama in 1999 → dominance of the USA in Latin America. **Considerable strategic/military importance:** Howard Air Force Base in the Canal Zone had been the hub for US anti-drug efforts in Latin America. **China:** A Hong Kong company won the right to control a port facility at each end of the canal. ### 3.2. The rise of China as a new major maritime power China influences more and more world maritime trade and its organization: 20 first world ports, 15 are Chinese whereas only 4 were Chinese in 2000; first maritime facade on a world scale. #### The SEZ, Special Economic Zones along the Chinese maritime façade 1970s China was a rural and under-industrialized country: 1½ pop lived in extreme poverty. Deng Xiaoping took over China in 1978 and began new political and economic reforms. **→ “It does not matter if the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice” using capitalist ideas to help improve the Chinese economy → Capitalism was used as a tool to achieve a socialist society.** #### Four modernizations 1980: Based the modernization on the maritime façade as China started to welcome foreign technological ideas and Investments (FDI) from TNCs in the SEZ (Special Economic Zones): zones of rapid economic growth along the coast using tax and business incentives to attract foreign investment and technology. Since 1988, the entire coastline is open to free trade and foreign investments. Led to a boom in the overall Chinese economy: 2010, China became the 2nd economy in the world: massive industrialization and insertion in globalization. **Eastern Asia:** Intra-regional flows between a subsidiary and the mother-company → Regional Division of Labor from MEDCs to LEDCs using Free-Trade Agreements (ASEAN / China in 2010). - **New International Division of Labor:** Growth of transnational corporations (TNCs) and the de-industrialization of the advanced economies where research and development take place in MEDC, while the less skilled processes are carried out by cheap labor LEDC. **Geographically:** “economic corridor” from Singapore to Tokyo. Interfaces between local, regional and world flows, these nubs are the main cities with some of the most important ports around the world, international airports and stock exchanges: Singapore, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Taiwan, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo. - **Investments in ports:** Kra canal (Thailand), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Djibouti → growing anti-Chinese feeling: massive debt to reimburse to China, dependent and vulnerable. **The maritime Silk Road, as part of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI):** The ambitions to become a world maritime power. Xi Jinping, China unveiled in 2013 the Belt and Road Initiative (New Silk Road), to strengthen the Chinese hegemony and secure and increase the arrival of raw materials and manufactured goods since and to South Asia, Africa and Europe, to sustain the Chinese economic growth. It should be completed in 2049 (centenary). It is an opportunity to accelerate their economic development by improving their competitiveness, attracting much needed foreign investment, diversifying their economies, and upgrading their physical infrastructure. **→ Decisive shift in Chinese Foreign Policy:** “bide and hide” to “striving for achievements”. ### 3.3. New transcontinental canals and roads are challenging the established ones #### New transcontinental canals are considered in order to ease the traffic at some chokepoints **A canal through Nicaragua?:** Efforts to construct a canal in Nicaragua for Atlantic-Pacific connectivity date back to the colonial era, with proposals in the 19th century. The U.S. initially considered Nicaragua but later focused on the Panama Canal. In the 2010s, Chinese industrialist Wang Jing lobbied Nicaragua for a 173-mile Grand Canal, larger than Panama's, costing $40 billion. Environmental concerns arose due to its impact on rainforests and Lake Nicaragua. The project is now considered defunct, as China shifted focus to investing in the Panama Canal, the primary competitor. #### Because of global warming, the Arctic Ocean is increasingly considered as a new frontier between potential roads along the Arctic Ocean (because of geopolitical and geoenvironmental stakes), but at a very high environmental cost The Arctic has been pegged as the final frontier for fossil fuels as ice-free and drillable because of the massive and constant burning of fossil fuel. US Geological Survey estimated there were 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 22 per cent of the world’s technically recoverable resources. **Oil projects:** Harsh conditions and the plummeting price of oil → long-term investment. **Two maritime roads around the Arctic Sea:** Northern Sea Route (NSR) / Northwest Passage (NWP). **→ Shortcuts between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, but they remain perilous and costly.** **2018:** First unescorted cargo vessel to traverse the NWP → South Korea/France liquefied natural gas. Each could cut 40% from distance costs, (9,000 miles for Europe / Asia ). **Costs to consider:** High fuel consumption of ice-class vessels, icebreaker escort fees, arctic crew costs and environmental ones such as the difficulty to clean an oil spill in the coasts of the Arctic). “If oil prices remain low, we'll see less activity in that sector resulting in less shipping. It's all interconnected.”→ the Northern Roads will probably remain a niche and experimental venture. **Increasingly significant military stake in a context of constant geoeconomic and geopolitical tensions around the world:** Remilitarization of the Arctic linked to economic, political and strategic issues. **Overlapping sovereignty claims** - resources and shipping lanes also in contention. **Major investments:** - Canada → Arctic defense, - Denmark → Arctic Command. Russia is 1st: constant upgrades to its naval forces and the re-opening of Soviet army bases point towards an extensive Arctic system of defense and rescue which stretches the length of its northern coastline. Russia's militarization may also come from a need to bolster Arctic infrastructure as interest in the region continues to grow. ## 4. Increasing conflicts and rivalries between maritime powers because of contradictory goals: freedom of circulation, appropriation and protection of the oceans ### 4.1. The UN Convention of 1973: the freedom of the sea while establishing the EEZ - **The use of the seas and oceans is regulated by international rules.** **1982:** United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea at Montego Bay (Jamaica) defined the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans, established guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources. - **The Territorial waters:** 12 nautical miles (= 22 km) under the total sovereignty of the state - **Economic Exclusive Zone** over which a state has economic sovereignty and cannot forbid circulation - **The open/high sea** opens to everyone with a total freedom of circulation, except pirates. It covers around 55% of the seas and oceans. **→ Source of many conflicts between countries contesting each other’s EEZ in areas where countries are close to each other, or when they overlap each other’s EEZ.** - **The Montego Bay Convention organizes the freedom of movement** Nobody owns the oceans and the seas. They are open to everyone, outside of the territorial waters. States must fight against slave trade and piracy, and that they must preserve biological resources. ### 4.2. Tensions between countries trying to appropriate maritime resources and territories The Montego Bay Conference did not solve the paradox between the appropriation and exploitation of the resources of the maritime areas (oceans and seas) by coastal nations and the necessity of the freedom of movement, basis of global trade and globalization, resulting in numerous conflicts. Some countries are fighting to keep oceans and seas open (US in south china sea) while other countries put forward the appropriation of the resources and try to strengthen their sovereignty(example of the Chinese in the South China Sea: PPO) Also, 168 countries signed the Montego Bay Convention, but the USA, with 13 other UN states, has signed the Convention but has not ratified it. #### International tensions: the Chinese Navy is challenging the hegemony of the US Navy **Pillar of power:** Management of its maritime areas. **→ Secure the main maritime roads and mainly the strategic straits** **Main tool of their powers:** - **Navies (military fleet):** Only the USA can be considered as a global maritime policeman: 11 aircraft carriers against two aircraft carriers for China (a third one is under construction). The tonnage (= volume of the ships) of the US Navy is equivalent to the one of the six other main fleets (Russia, China, UK, Japan, France and Turkey). - **200 American military bases and 6 active fleets all around the world → projection capability the USA is the first maritime world power.** Some emerging countries and growing powers are increasingly competing, contesting the US maritime power: **China's strategy to assert itself as a world power → “maritime expansion”.** Since the elimination of the burden that had been imposed by the land-based confrontation with the Soviet Union to the north and west coastal defense to offshore defense. After the establishment of the United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, the waters under China’s jurisdiction grew to almost one-third of the country’s land area. **Link between the rise of Chinese maritime and Chinese military power:** **Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier in September 2012 was the symbol of its military modernization and its desire to extend its capacity → five or six aircraft carriers by the 2030s.** In the South Chinese sea, the rise of the Chinese military power as an opponent to the American one questions the freedom of the seas, the US capacity to maintain this freedom of the seas and the sovereignty of other nations in the region. #### Local tensions between states in order to control/ appropriate maritime areas The main areas of local tensions between countries are the EEZ and the continental shelf because it is where most of the resources are to be found = oil and fishing mainly. #### East China Sea Tensions between China and Japan in the East China Sea primarily revolve around political and nationalist issues rather than economic concerns. The dispute centers on the control of maritime territories, with Japan proposing a median line for the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) while China seeks complete control over the continental shelf, emphasizing sovereignty and nationalism over natural and mineral resources. The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands add complexity, being claimed by both nations, with Japan currently administering them but China contesting this since their annexation in 1895. The islands gained significance in 1968 when potential oil reserves were discovered nearby, intensifying sovereignty disputes. Economic matters, such as fishing and oil cooperation, are less contentious, with both countries agreeing on a common fishing zone in the mid-1990s and signing an oil exploitation agreement in 2008. However, geopolitical tensions remain high, exemplified by the 2010 arrest of a Chinese fishing boat’s crew by Japan near the Senkaku islands, sparking nationalist demonstrations. The election of nationalist Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in December 2012, advocating for the islands and Japanese rearmament against China, combined with China’s growing economic and political influence, exacerbated the issue. The context of American isolationism and a power vacuum in the Pacific further complicates efforts to resolve the longstanding dispute. #### The impacts of the Brexit on the French-British maritime relations If a no-deal Brexit occurs on October 31, 2020, French and other European vessels would lose access to British waters, ending shared access under the EU Common Fisheries Policy. This uncertainty raises fears and tensions, as French fishing in British waters constitutes 25% of the industry’s volume and 20% of its value. Eight EU member states, including France, face negative impacts on their fishing industries. In France, a no-deal Brexit could lead to internal conflicts among French fishermen, particularly between Breton and Norman vessels. The British industry is mainly concerned about the future of its exports to the continent, especially in the absence of a deal, leading to potential issues with tariffs and delays in customs arrangements, particularly for perishable commodities like fresh or live fish, especially shellfish. ### 4.3. Even if seas and oceans are monitored by the main maritime powers, piracy remains a reality today slide 23 **Piracy:** The practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea, the act of attacking ships in order to steal from them.” The increasing number of acts of piracy is linked to the weakness/ political, social and economic crisis of the coastal country, unable to protect and monitor its territorial waters. Its inhabitants are using piracy as a way to survive and to fight poverty and hunger. The East coast of Africa along the Somalian coastlines was “famous” for its pirates because of the strategic and economic importance of the Hormuz strait. The Strait of Malacca is another hotspot for piracy because of the massive number of boats crossing and the lack of control in the islands around. ### 4.4. The protection of the maritime environment as an increasingly important challenge for the world - **Oceans and seas are facing numerous environmental issues** **Main environmental issues:** Oil slick, waste in the oceans, global warming and climatic refugees, overfishing and the destruction of many species. The very dense traffic creates major risks of pollution of the sea because most of the boats (60%) are registered under a flag of convenience in Panama, Liberia, Cyprus. #### Oil spills are also a major source of pollution Oil spills are one of the main factors that cause long term adverse effects on marine life. The spills take months to clean up and can result in the death of thousands of marine animals and birds. Despite all cleaning efforts, a considerable amount of oil remains in the area affected by the spill, and the use of dispersants in an attempt to reduce the amount of oil left in the ocean, actually causes the oil to break down into smaller components. They find their way into the food chain, gradually poisoning the environment. Oil spills played a significant role in near extinction of several species of fish and marine animals (dwarf seahorse, Gulf of Mexico). #### The two worst oil