The Ocean is profoundly influenced by a number of factors, including climate change, the subsequent sea-level rise and the associated impact on biogeochemical processes. The implementation of marine biomass, energy sources and mineral exploitation in the context of globalization have also influenced the ocean economy. In this framework, a wide range of crucial issues has emerged calling for close co-operation between science and policy. International policy, sustained by the law of the sea, has made strong, but insufficient efforts to provide useful tools to deal with these considerations....

by Elisabeth Mann Borgese Founder and Honorary President International Ocean Institute Adalberto Vallega has been, for decades, a master and great teacher of integrated coastal management and Mediterranean cooperation. This new book, of an almost en- cyclopaedic scope, is a most original contribution to the rapidly growing literature on the subject, of equal value to the academic community which will greatly appreciate the theoretical, historic and philosophical underpinning of the work, and to the practi- tioner, the planner, regulator and manager, who will find in these pages most useful...

This book has been conceived with the aim of contributing to the International Conference on Ocean Management in Global Change Genoa, June 22-26, 1992] and to the ocean sciences' debate on the conceptual framework and targets of sea management.