Global health. The current scenario and future perspectives

79 The tragedy of the commons has led to a combination of treaties for ocean protection. The main treaties include the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (signed by Chile in 1997), the United Nations Agreement on Fish Stocks (approved for signature in 2015 by Chile), and the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (a voluntary, non-binding instrument), as well as some anti-pollution measures such as the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and other Matters (also known as the London Convention, awaiting approval for ratification in the Chilean Congress), the Basel Convention (signed by Chile in 1992) and the Global Program of Action, which contains provisions on maritime issues. In 1999, an excellent initiative was undertaken by the international scientific community called the Global International Waters Assessment (GIWA). Its objective was to comprehensively evaluate the environmental status of oceans, sources of damage and potential future scenarios for their protection. In 2006, the GIWA published its final report, which highlighted the following global problems: freshwater scarcity, pollution, overfishing and other threats to aquatic living resources, habitat modification and global warming. For the region associated with the Humboldt Current located in the western and central parts of South America (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile), the GIWA reported that the economy of the region is mainly based on fishing, agriculture, the oil industry, mining and maritime transportation. The activities of these sectors result in two priority environmental and socioeconomic problems in the region: ocean pollution and unsustainable exploitation of fish and other living resources. A quite different problem occurs with terrestrial ecosystems . These tend to be located within a country, but the international community is concerned about protecting them, particularly because some of the world’s poorest communities live in areas threatened by the loss of productive capacity due to desertification . Desertification refers to the transformation of land into essentially uninhabitable deserts that cannot support human populations. This poses its own problems for a coordinated international strategy. Desertification is caused by a combination of climate variations and human activities. Virgin drylands suffer during periods of drought but can usually recover on their own. However, when these areas are simultaneously exploited for human economic benefit, the combined stress on the ecosystem becomes excessive. Therefore, excessive cultivation and