The Fractured Ocean: Current Challenges to Maritime Policy in the Wider Atlantic
by John B. Richardson
17:30 - 19:30, OCP Headquarters, Casablanca, Morocco
This conference examines the challenges posed by human activity on the Atlantic Ocean itself, and around its coasts, looking at it not so much as a vast expanse separating the Americas from Africa and Europe but rather as a shared resource and an important connector. All littoral states face a common challenge in maintaining its value as a foundation for sustained “blue growth” in the years to come. In Chapter 1, Armando Marques Guedes traces the evolution of the economic activities that have determined the geoeconomic development of the Atlantic and of the complex web of international relations that have grown up as a result. In Chapter 2, Xavier de la Gorce and Anne-François de Saint-Salvy examine the development of illegal activities on the Atlantic. Chapter 3, written by Paul Holthus, de la Gorce, and de Saint Salvy, takes a look at fisheries in the Atlantic Basin. It paints a picture of the overexploitation of one of the planet’s most valuable living resources and shows how this has led to the decline of fish and shellfish stocks in the northern hemisphere and is now threatening to do the same in the South Atlantic. Chapter 4, written by Holthus, investigates the exploitation of the resources of the Atlantic, both living and mineral, including renewable energy. The paper concludes that a forum needs to be created within which the southern countries can share their own ideas on ocean governance and maritime policy and profit from the experience of the North.
Related publication : The Fractured Ocean : Current Challenges to Maritime Policy in the Wider Atlantic
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John Richardson
John Richardson was born in the U.K. and grew up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He has masters degrees in chemistry from the University of Cambridge and economics from University College London. He spent four years as an economist with Unilever before joining the European Commission to work on environmental policy in 1973. From 1978 to 1996, he occupied various posts in the external relations part of the European Commission, including EU negotiator for trade in services during the Uruguay Round, and Unit Head, first for relations with the U.S., then for relations with Japan. In October 1996, he became deputy head of the Commission’s delegation to the U.S. in Washington, DC and in May 2001 he became ambassador and head of delegation to the United Nations in New York. He maintains an abiding interest in how cultural differences impact world affairs.In May 2005 he headed the task force for three years which developed the integrated maritime policy for the EU, adopted by the European Council in December 2007.He left the European Commission after 35 years of service in July 2008, but has retained a keen interest and an extensive network in international affairs. He is chairman of the ESPO award committee and a member of the board of trustees of Sail Training International, and provides consultancy services through FIPRA. He has been a member of the board of the Salzburg Global Seminar for many years.
John Richardson is married to the German broadcaster, Irmtraud Richardson, and has three grown daughters. He lives in Brussels and Provence.