Land-based sources of marine pollution and dumping at sea

Abstract

Marine pollution is one of the greatest threats to ocean life and health. The marine environment and ecosystem are constantly endangered by a plethora of human activity. This contribution addresses two main sources of marine pollution that have an adverse effect on the oceans: land-based sources and dumping at sea. The former encompasses point sources when pollution is direct (e.g. coastal sources, discharging into the sea), as well as diffuse sources which is when pollution reaches the sea indirectly (e.g. inland sources, discharging into rivers, canals or other watercourses that end up flowing into the sea, as well as airborne sources carried via the atmosphere), while the latter is defined in Article 1(5)(a) of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as 'any deliberate disposal of waste or other matter from vessels, aircrafts, platforms or other man-made structures (...)' or 'the deliberate disposal of vessels, aircrafts, platforms or other man-made structures at sea.' This contribution aims to provide an overview of the international legal frameworks in place, both global and regional, on these two sources of marine pollution.