International Marine Environmental Law Research Articles

Undermining by Mining? Deep Seabed Mining in Light of International Marine Environmental Law

Some forty years ago, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS) created an unusual regime for states to collectively manage common natural resources on the international seabed beyond national jurisdiction (known as “the Area”) through the International Seabed Authority (ISA). In the intervening years, scientists have increasingly been warning about the serious environmental risks of mining seabed minerals. At this pivotal point in time, when states are negotiating whether or not to allow seabed mining, this essay explores the risk of undermining by mining, that is, contravening international marine environmental law and the obligations and responsibilities of states thereunder by allowing commercial mining activities to commence. We argue that allowing seabed mining in the Area at this juncture, when so much about the deep ocean remains unknown, would risk frustrating a host of measures, achievements, and progress to enhance marine environmental protection, particularly in areas beyond national jurisdiction. We begin with an overview of the ISA and its work to date, before discussing potential interactions between seabed mining and marine environmental law and policies, with a particular focus on the new ocean biodiversity agreement. We conclude by urging states to take cognizance of their overarching duty to protect and preserve the marine environment and ensure that all decisions taken with respect to seabed mining are consistent with their obligations and responsibilities under international law.

The rule of law for marine environmental governance in maritime transport: China’s experience

Maritime transport is a major source of pollution of marine environment, which is the essential object in a series of international maritime legislations and various countries’ domestic laws. Focused on protecting the marine environment, China has spent over 40 years developing the rule of law for marine environmental governance in maritime transport, including efforts made in legislation, law enforcement, and the judiciary. In this article, we attempt to examine China’s experience and practice in the marine environment, explain the logic and consideration in relevant practices, and summarize China’s paradigm for the rule of law for such governance. China has sought to resolve two major issues: the relationship between domestic and international law and the balance of interests between flag, coastal, and port states, offering a vivid model of marine environmental governance on which other countries can base their own legal systems. The findings reveal that with following and enforcing the international law of the sea, now China’s domestic laws have form lawful authority on binding foreign vessels. China is continually strengthening the construction of its legislative system to harmonize inconsistencies and keep pace with international marine environmental law. To eliminate administrative inefficiency resulting from cumbersome procedures, China has reformed its maritime enforcement system by consolidating multiple administrations. China’s independent maritime judicial system is meeting the demand to develop environmental specialization, enabling further exploitation of its profession in solving maritime environment cases and implementing environmental legislation.

International Water Law’s Role in Addressing the Problem of Marine Plastic Pollution: A Vital Piece in a Complex Puzzle!

Abstract The management and protection of water resources, and thus the practice of water law, is absolutely central to every aspect of human well-being. This is as true at the international level as at the domestic level. Water pervades every area of human activity and connects almost every form of pollution and environmental harm. This truism is clearly illustrated by the highly topical problem of marine plastic pollution (MPP) which, though it concerns the ubiquitous use and eventual accumulation in the marine environment of a broad category of environmentally persistent synthetic materials, is intrinsically linked to the environmental management of major rivers, many of which are shared international watercourses. While the general international obligation to prevent marine pollution by plastics can be derived from both international marine environmental law and international water law, evolving practice under the latter framework, and under related sub-fields of international and transnational environmental law, provides helpful clarity regarding the normative parameters of the due diligence standard of conduct expected of all States in this regard.

International Protection of Foreign Investments in Offshore Energy Production and Marine Environmental Protection: Birds of a Feather or Frenemies Forever?

Initially, international investment law and international law on the protection of the marine environment were two branches that developed separately. As these international regimes mature, they often speak to the same facts, bringing about their ever-increasing normative interaction, way before any disputes arise. The regulation of investments in offshore energy production is chosen as a case study because it exemplifies how these two bodies of international law can interact. The article does not conceptualize these two international regimes as inherently antagonistic but instead highlights their potential complementarity. Yet, it is primarily the issue of normative conflicts between those two regimes which has generated heated scholarly debates. Against the backdrop of sweeping critiques about the potential ‘regulatory chill’ of international investment agreements and their investor-State dispute settlement mechanism, this contribution examines whether arbitral tribunals have interpreted and applied investment rules in a fashion that can unduly restrict the discretion of host States to honour their marine environmental obligations. First, it explores why and how international investment law and marine environmental law interact and influence each other’s implementation. In a second step, the article investigates the impact (if any) of investment obligations on the discretion of host States to comply with their marine environmental protection obligations. Adopting a forward-looking perspective, it finally enquires into the potential impact of the reformed provisions under new generation IIAs on the right and duty of States to take all necessary measures to protect the marine environment against pollution from offshore energy production activities.

Towards a Sustainable Recovery: Perspectives from the Recent Literature on International Marine Environmental Law

Towards a Sustainable Recovery: Perspectives from the Recent Literature on International Marine Environmental Law

International marine environmental law and policy Edited by DaudHassanSaifulKarim Published by Routledge, 2019, 276 pp., £120.00, hardback.

Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental LawVolume 30, Issue 2 p. 286-288 BOOK REVIEW International marine environmental law and policy Edited by Daud Hassan Saiful Karim Published by Routledge, 2019, 276 pp., £120.00, hardback. Pascale Ricard, Corresponding Author Pascale Ricard pascale.ricard@univ-amu.fr CNRS Researcher, Aix Marseille Université, CERIC, UMR DICE Correspondence Email: pascale.ricard@univ-amu.frSearch for more papers by this author Pascale Ricard, Corresponding Author Pascale Ricard pascale.ricard@univ-amu.fr CNRS Researcher, Aix Marseille Université, CERIC, UMR DICE Correspondence Email: pascale.ricard@univ-amu.frSearch for more papers by this author First published: 11 December 2020 https://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12379Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume30, Issue2Special Issue: The Amazon RainforestJuly 2021Pages 286-288 RelatedInformation

Swatch-of-no-ground marine protected area for sharks, dolphins, porpoises and whales: Legal and institutional challenges

Bangladesh is host to a major cetacean habitat. The country declared its first marine protected area, namely, the Swatch-of-No-Ground Marine Protected Area, for conservation of some species of dolphins, porpoises, whales and sharks. However, this declaration has not been supported with an effective and robust legal, policy and institutional framework. Against this backdrop, this article critically examines the existing legal and institutional framework for management of this marine protected area. A study on the existing legal framework shows the absence of a robust national legal system for prevention of marine pollution and protection of marine biodiversity. This lack of national legal framework will have a significant impact on the future success of the Marine Protected Area. Moreover, an analysis of the relevant national institutions shows that they are not fully capable of enforcing the law and policy in the marine protected area. Through this analysis, this paper proposes that preparation of a management plan, provision of adequate resources to the relevant agencies, ensuring interagency cooperation, engagement of stakeholders and implementation of international marine environmental law are crucial for the future success of this marine protected area.

Sustainable Management of High Seas Marine Resources: Scoping Note

Sustainable development goal 14 is to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.” This scoping note focuses on just the natural resources of the ocean’s high seas area, that is, areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), which constitute more than half of the world ocean and the world’s largest ecosystem. International law governing natural resources in areas within national jurisdiction—ocean waters landward of 200 nm (or 12 nm for states that have not claimed an Extended Economic Zone) and the seafloor landward of continental shelf boundaries, where they have been claimed—is extensive, and only partially overlaps this topic. High seas marine resources include fisheries, one of the most ancient subjects of international law, and marine genetic resources, one of the most novel. These and other vital ocean natural resources and ecosystem services exist within areas of national control and areas beyond national jurisdiction, with important transboundary effects and commons considerations. Although the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part XII, was intended to provide a framework for the protection and preservation of the marine environment, there is divergence between the law of the sea and international marine environmental law principles. Initiatives are under way to fill gaps in the legal regime for ocean ABNJ. This note provides an overview of the value, threats and status of the ocean; a survey of the international legal terrain; state practice; and future directions.

A(n) (Im)Possibility of Justice in the Case of Conservation of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

The advent of biotechnology in 1980 profoundly changed the attitude of scientists, and more recently of lawyers working with international marine environmental law, as well as in the fields of science and technology, and intellectual property and patent law, towards biological diversity in far-off marine areas, including the deep seabed. The extraordinary protection and adaptation properties of the deep seabed organisms seem to represent invaluable material for the pharmaceutical innovation, and especially life-saving drugs. Bioprospecting, a technique that consists of exploring the ocean biodiversity by identifying and harvesting commercially valuable bio-resources, ended up alerting the need, at the global scale, for greater legal certainty in this area. Namely, bioprospecting and further bio-remediation, and numerous pharmaceutical applications trigger the debate about the extent of ownership rights over these discoveries; as well as which discoveries, and to what extent, represent inventions, hence also involving questions of patent deposition. The mere assumption that the deep seabed should be exploited, and possibly appropriated, necessitates a serious discussion. In 2015, the United Nations (UN) members launched the consultative process on a global agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of the marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJs). To date, the negotiation positions are various. Some countries focus on the exploitation of marine genetic resources and the rights to those resources on a first-come-first-served basis; few see these resources’ conservation and sustainable use as a priority; many are those discussing a fair, equitable and transparent risk and benefits-sharing related to the resources in those areas through the system of patents. In March 2017, two ground-breaking domestic decisions, namely, a bill in New Zealand and a municipal court’s ruling in India, have recognised the ecosystems in question (the rivers, in the case at hand) as living entities, thus giving them a legal personality, including standing in court proceedings. The Indian court’s decision has in particular implied that any harm, including pollution, to the rivers will be legally equivalent to harming a living human. These newest environmental law developments suggest that harming, especially through pollution that may be induced by the bioprospecting, the biodiversity of the deep seabed where forms of life with valuable genes live, might amount in not so distant future to a legal offense. This might put most of the agenda of the new instrument defending the exploration and exploitation of marine genetic resources on quite a precarious perch. This article aims at: (i) outlining and unpacking the multilayered legal space that currently and prospectively governs marine biodiversity of ABNJs, and (ii) mapping out the more discursive and narrative space that has impacted the legal mechanisms at play and that also dominates current consultations and future negotiations in the field. The study discusses together UNCLOS, CBD and WTO TRIPS in an attempt to move further the debate about the nexus between conservation and justice. Overall, the objective is to analyse relevant present contestations and likelihoods, and ultimately expose to what extent, in terms of justice, the existing theory, instruments, agenda, and course for action are based on differing, and oftentimes simply irreconcilable projects. Lastly, the article discusses alternative visions of justice beyond present bifocal projects ‘man-nature’. While drafting this article, some of such visions have even become reality, as, for example, granting representation to such non-human entities as rivers.

Book Review: Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law, International Marine Environmental Law: Institutions, Implementation and Innovations

Book Review: Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law, International Marine Environmental Law: Institutions, Implementation and Innovations

ANDREE KIRCHNER (ED.), INTERNATIONAL MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, INSTITUTIONS, IMPLEMENTATION AND INNOVATIONS, (THE HAGUE, KLUWER LAW INTERNATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY SERIES, VOL. 64, 2003)

ANDREE KIRCHNER (ED.), INTERNATIONAL MARINE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, INSTITUTIONS, IMPLEMENTATION AND INNOVATIONS, (THE HAGUE, KLUWER LAW INTERNATIONAL, INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY SERIES, VOL. 64, 2003). An article from journal Revue québécoise de droit international / Quebec Journal of International Law / Revista quebequense de derecho internacional (Volume 16, Number 2, 2003, pp. 1-396), on Érudit.

Protection of particularly sensitive sea areas under international marine environmental law: Report of the International Meeting of Legal Experts on Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas University of Hull, 20–21 July 1992

Protection of particularly sensitive sea areas under international marine environmental law: Report of the International Meeting of Legal Experts on Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas University of Hull, 20–21 July 1992

Conjonctivite dite printanière et conjonctivites allergiques

Bangladesh is host to a major cetacean habitat. The country declared its first marine protected area, namely, the Swatch-of-No-Ground Marine Protected Area, for conservation of some species of dolphins, porpoises, whales and sharks. However, this declaration has not been supported with an effective and robust legal, policy and institutional framework. Against this backdrop, this article critically examines the existing legal and institutional framework for management of this marine protected area. A study on the existing legal framework shows the absence of a robust national legal system for prevention of marine pollution and protection of marine biodiversity. This lack of national legal framework will have a significant impact on the future success of the Marine Protected Area. Moreover, an analysis of the relevant national institutions shows that they are not fully capable of enforcing the law and policy in the marine protected area. Through this analysis, this paper proposes that preparation of a management plan, provision of adequate resources to the relevant agencies, ensuring interagency cooperation, engagement of stakeholders and implementation of international marine environmental law are crucial for the future success of this marine protected area.