The Ocean, Our Future is the official report of the Independent World Commission
on the Oceans, chaired by Mario Soares, former President of Portugal. Its aim is
to summarize the very real problems affecting the ocean and its future
management, and to provide imaginative solutions to these various and
interlocking problems. The oceans have traditionally been taken for granted as a
source of wealth, opportunity and abundance. Our growing understanding of the
oceans has fundamentally changed this perception. We now know that in some
areas, abundance is giving way to real scarcity, resulting in severe conflicts.
Territorial disputes that threaten peace and security, disruptions to global
climate, overfishing,