A frontier mentality has been a defining aspect of human history. Often this sentiment is optimistically framed in the language of aspirations and opportunities. But it can also be accompanied by unsavory narratives of over-exploitation, inequity, and conflict (1). If any place on Earth can be considered a final frontier, it is perhaps the ocean’s “areas beyond national jurisdiction” (ABNJ), which are both distant (generally starting some 370 km from coastlines) and vast (covering nearly 40% of the planet’s surface). It is also the subject of ongoing United Nations negotiations for a treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity found in areas beyond national jurisdiction (typically shortened to BBNJ, https://www.un.org/bbnj/). However, if current trajectories of expansion of human activities in the ocean continue, we are at the crossroad of deciding whether this rapidly receding frontier will bring the economic and social benefits that drive progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda or further cement global inequities (2).

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意见：公平海洋公域的转型机会 [环境科学]

前沿心态一直是人类历史的一个决定性方面。通常，这种情绪是用抱负和机会的语言来表达的。但它也可能伴随着过度剥削、不平等和冲突的令人讨厌的叙述（1）。如果地球上的任何地方都可以被视为最后的边界，那么可能是海洋的“国家管辖范围以外的区域”（ABNJ），它们既遥远（通常距海岸线约 370 公里）又广阔（覆盖地球近 40% 的面积）。表面）。它也是联合国正在进行的关于保护和可持续利用国家管辖范围以外区域海洋生物多样性条约谈判的主题（通常缩写为 BBNJ，https://www.un.org/bbnj/）。然而，如果当前人类活动在海洋中的扩张轨迹继续下去，我们正处于决定这一迅速消退的前沿是否会带来推动实现可持续发展议程或进一步加剧全球不平等的经济和社会效益的十字路口（2）。