International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea

Abstract

While the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) places significant emphasis on the protection of the marine environment, the interpretation of the relevant rules under UNCLOS and the application of general environmental principles to the marine environment are not always straightforward. The role of judicial bodies in clarifying these rules to protect and preserve the marine environment is therefore especially important. This chapter aims to examine the contribution of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (‘ITLOS’ or ‘the Tribunal’) to the protection of the marine environment. To that end, the chapter first examines the procedural rules that are relevant to disputes relating to the marine environment. It then analyses how ITLOS has interpreted and applied important principles of environmental law in the context of the marine environment in its jurisprudence. Based on these findings, the chapter assesses the strengths and weaknesses of ITLOS in contributing to the protection of the marine environment. The chapter concludes that the Tribunal’s examination of important environmental principles lends an authoritative voice to endorsing their importance in the context of the marine environment and helps to enrich the case law that deals with them, thus providing guidance for States in the implementation of the principles. At the same time, one should be reasonable in what can be expected of ITLOS in terms of its contributions to the protection of the marine environment due to the inherent jurisdictional limitations upon dispute settlement bodies.