By comparison, undersea cables dwarf satellites for internationalĬommunications and are unmatched for their reliability, speed, volume.They are critical communications infrastructure carrying more thanĩ8% of international internet, data, video, and telephonic traffic.Submarine Cables Underpin Sustainable Development Let’s look at some of the other positives for submarine cables. By comparison, a laptop computer operates on about 3.0 amperes. Furthermore, the cables are made up of inert materials (polyethylene, copper, glass, plastic), while the amount of power in a submarine telecom cable is a slight constant DC current of about 0.6 to 1.0 amperes. In fact, the physical footprint of a submarine cable in the BBNJ area is only 17 to 22 mm in diameter and the total percent of the BBNJ seabed surface covered by all in-service cables is only about 0.00002%. Other uses of the ocean-like shipping, fishing and mining-cannot match the contribution of submarine cables to sustainability and none of these uses can do so with such a neutral effect on the marine environment. Submarine cables are essential to the modern world’s economic life and social fabric-they are the international paths that connect the internet. The white paper was released on 1 August 2016 and presented to the United Nations on 29 August 2016. Not infrequently, these flawed regulatory efforts undercut the viability of the successful submarine cable network as the critical international infrastructure upon which the internet and global economy are based.Ī recent whitepaper from the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), titled Submarine Cables and Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) provided information on submarine cables, their contribution to sustainable development, and their relationship to the marine environment to a United Nations Committee tasked with development of an international legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The collective impact of this knowledge gap is compounded by the fact that many in government share their misconceptions, even as they fashion ocean policies and regulations that overlook submarine cable history, marine engineering, seamanship, environmental aspects and international law. Map courtesy of TeleGeography.Įven more unappreciated is the substantial body of scientific research and records that document the interrelationship of submarine cables and the marine environment. In fact, the capacity of a single transatlantic cable has increased by a factor of 100,000 in the last 25 years!Īctive and planned international submarine cable systems and their landing stations. The tremendous volume of data carried at low cost by modern fibre optic submarine cables dwarfs the limited capacity of higher cost satellites. The idea that bits of data travel at the speed across the ocean depths on unseen cables is hard to comprehend, but it’s true. Over 98% of international communications are carried by a relatively small number of fiber optic submarine cables. When people think about international communications, they often regard satellites as the primary medium of modern international communications. ECO - November/December 2016 Sustainable Development:Submarine Cables In The Marine Environment
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