Informal International Lawmaking as a Panacea in the Absence of Regime Focus? Marine Debris, Plastics, and Microplastics

Abstract

Abstract Increasing levels of marine debris, including plastics and microplastics, pose a serious global environmental problem, negatively affecting the entire marine ecosystem and all ocean users. Given the plethora of actors and activities involved, developing regimes for the reduction, prevention, elimination, and control of both vessel-based sources and land-based sources of marine plastic debris is as difficult as the problem is ubiquitous. Land-based sources, in particular, pose serious challenges, due to the lack of regime focus in the law of the sea, and the diffuse nature of the sources. This chapter examines the role of informal lawmaking in filling the void between the law of the sea relating to ship-source marine plastic debris and the control of marine plastic pollution from land-based sources. In doing so, it aims to provide an illustration of both the power and the pretence of this approach to lawmaking.