ABSTRACT

The World Ocean – that ensemble of oceans around the globe – is riddled with complex and persistent pollutants, most of which come from inland sources. These pollutants include toxic chemicals, fertilizers, garbage, hydrocarbons, and carbon dioxide, among many other contaminants.1 On the other hand, most marine pollution regimes focus on ocean dumping, or pollution added to the ocean deliberately from ships or land-based structures. This chapter will explain the disconnect between most pollution that reaches the ocean and the policies the international community has devised through Ulrich Beck’s notion of the “risk society” to understand marine pollution better. The risk society proposes that modern industrial systems have begun to create ubiquitous and irreversible problems that the same systems cannot address. From this chapter we come to understand that some modern problems may not have modern solutions, but rather may require much more difficult political choices. Ultimately, marine pollution cannot effectively be addressed through dumping regulations, even though these may help with the dumping of pollutants. Effective policy for international marine pollution requires the reduction of pollution from the sources of larger social systems, such as the world economy, and ecological systems, such as inland and marine space.