Human Security

Our seas and oceans can be mirrors of human life - its origins, its development and its future. UNITAR’s Series on Sea and Human Security addresses the different dimensions of human security pertaining to seas and oceans, and the related and delicate tradeoff between development and conservation.

The last two workshops of this Series highlighted this tradeoff in particular as it relates to marine food security. Marine food resources are not under individual ownerships, they are fluctuating and reproductive. Their res nullius nature makes them a target of (over)exploitation, their impermanence gives rise to uncertainty and their reproductive ability reminds us that we are ultimately talking about living creatures. At the same time these characteristics and the diversity and multiplicity of stakeholders involved require that we seek to share the potentials of science and tradition in nurturing life and the imperative of exercising moderation.