Message from the President

Managing New Jersey’s Coastal Growth in the 21^st Century

The Nation’s coastal counties contribute nearly one-half of the US Gross Domestic Product (GNP), or $4.5 trillion! New Jersey’s coastal economy is no exception, and what I report here today has as much application in our state as elsewhere on the globe.

Unfortunately, this great coastal economic engine does not come without costs. More than ever increasing coastal populations, land use practices, and advanced technology threaten the long-term sustainability of ocean and coastal resources.

Yet despite the plethora of recent reports that recommend ways to reverse decades of abuse and neglect of coastal resources, the public has yet to confront the real issue:

Where multiple desirable but competing objectives exist, it is not possible to maximize each…[and] in any system with multiple competing objectives it will not be possible to meet every one

U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy 2004 The compromises and sacrifices that will be required to accommodate human needs while preserving ecosystem functions; i.e., how we achieve balance in meeting the demands of competing uses is the great challenge of the 21^st century?

Perhaps all is not lost. Although the problems facing global sustainability are doubtless huge imperfect science, system complexity, the relationship between acquired wealth and exploitation of resources, the inability to accurately predict the consequences of our actions, “techno-arrogance”, and human population growth it is the human condition to assume that we will be able to assert control over our destiny.

Progress is being made. Some trends and transitions are occurring that simultaneously make global sustainability more difficult as well as more feasible: 1) the global transition in birth rates tending toward zero ultimately offers an upper bound to human needs; 2) many regions have witnessed a dramatic growth in per capita domestic product; with wealth comes the ability to meet human needs; 3) industrialized countries now exhibit the largest decrease in harmful consumption per unit value of product, but unfortunately, increases in the worldwide consumption of energy and other natural resources currently offset the gains; and 4) the recent transition of energy sources and transmission, new materials and the substitution of information for energy continue a long-term process of decarbonization, dematerialization and detoxification.

There are no easy fixes. But at least we can strive for balance in managing human dominated ecosystems. Current practices appear to be weighted towards preserving natural functions, decoupled from system reliability. In human dominated systems, however, they should be redirected towards goals and mandates to rehabilitate the functions associated with service reliability. Management goals should and can include elements of both ecology and commerce, proportional to human dominance in the landscape. Our fate rest in the human dimensions of societal action vested in all stakeholders, consensus building, and the compromises and sacrifices that will ensure environmental and social justice for all.

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