Comparative Ocean Governance


Book Description

Comparative Ocean Governance examines the world's attempts to improve ocean governance through place-based management—marine protected areas, ocean zoning, marine spatial planning—and evaluates this growing trend in light of the advent of climate change and its impacts on the seas. This monograph opens with an explanation of the economics of the oceans and their value to the global environment and the earth's population, the long-term stressors that have impacted oceans, and the new threats to ocean sustainability that climate change poses. It then examines the international framework for ocean management and coastal nations' increasing adoption of place-based governance regimes. The final section explores how these place-based management regimes intersect with climate change adaptation efforts, either accidentally or intentionally. It then offers suggestions for making place-based marine management even more flexible and responsive for the future. Environmental law scholars, legislators and policymakers, marine scientists, and all those concerned for the welfare of the world's oceans will find this book of great value.




Sustainability in the Maritime Domain


Book Description

This volume explores options for a sustainable maritime domain, including maritime transportation, such as, Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), maritime education and training, maritime traffic and advisory systems, maritime security. Other activities in the maritime domain covered in the book include small-scale fisheries and sustainable fisheries, and greening the blue economy. The book aims to provide the building blocks needed for a framework for good ocean governance; a framework that will serve through the next decade and, and hopefully, well beyond the 2030 milepost of the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development. In short, this book brings together the problems of the current world and sustainable solutions that are in the development process and will eventually materialize in the not so distant future. Additionally, the book presents a trans-disciplinary analysis of integral sustainable maritime transportation solutions and crucial issues relevant to good ocean governance that have recently been discussed at different national, regional and international fora, highlighting ongoing work to develop and support governance systems that facilitate industry requirements, and meet the needs of coastal states and indigenous peoples, of researchers, of spatial planners, and of other sectors dependent on the oceans. The book will be of interest to researchers across many disciplines, especially those that are engaged in cross-sectoral research and developments in the maritime transport sector and across the wider maritime domain. To this end, the book covers areas including natural and social sciences, geographical studies, spatial planning, maritime security and gender studies, as they relate to transport and the wider maritime sector. In addition, the book explores frameworks for sustainable ocean governance being developed under the UN’s Agenda for Sustainable Development to 2030. It will also look beyond the 2030 milepost under that Agenda, and will be of use to national and international policymakers and practitioners, government actors at the EU and other regional and national levels and to researchers of ocean governance, sustainability and management, and maritime transport.




Predicting Future Oceans


Book Description

Predicting Future Oceans: Sustainability of Ocean and Human Systems Amidst Global Environmental Change provides a synthesis of our knowledge of the future state of the oceans. The editors undertake the challenge of integrating diverse perspectives—from oceanography to anthropology—to exhibit the changes in ecological conditions and their socioeconomic implications. Each contributing author provides a novel perspective, with the book as a whole collating scholarly understandings of future oceans and coastal communities across the world. The diverse perspectives, syntheses and state-of-the-art natural and social sciences contributions are led by past and current research fellows and principal investigators of the Nereus Program network. This includes members at 17 leading research institutes, addressing themes such as oceanography, biodiversity, fisheries, mariculture production, economics, pollution, public health and marine policy. This book is a comprehensive resource for senior undergraduate and postgraduate readers studying social and natural science, as well as practitioners working in the field of natural resources management and marine conservation. - Provides a synthesis of our knowledge on the future state of the oceans - Includes recommendations on how to move forwards - Highlights key social aspects linked to ocean ecosystems, including health, equity and sovereignty




Ocean Governance


Book Description

Ocean—a source of life, has been overused and heavily polluted. While the traditional approaches might not be able to solve the complexity of the ocean governance issues, there is a need to adopt a new way of thinking in order to deal with the current problems. This book emphasises the importance of law and policy while generating ocean governance initiatives. “Good Ocean Governance” as a new way of thinking, needs to be supported by legislation and decision makers. It is, therefore, necessary to examine whether the idea of good ocean governance exists within the international legal system and is subsequently subject to transfer into the domestic law. During this transaction process, a number of examples provided from the United States, Canada and Australia help to demonstrate the broad picture. Also included are discussions on the governance of marine resources, ship recycling and marine pollution, the impact of maritime clusters as well as social and culture impact of ports. The ultimate aim of this book is to tease out more new ideas and discussions on ocean governance issues.




China Goes to Sea


Book Description

In modern history, China has been primarily a land power, dominating smaller states along its massive continental flanks. But China’s turn toward the sea is now very much a reality, as evident in its stunning rise in global shipbuilding markets, its vast and expanding merchant marine, the wide offshore reach of its energy and minerals exploration companies, its growing fishing fleet, and indeed its increasingly modern navy. Yet, for all these achievements, there is still profound skepticism regarding China’s potential as a genuine maritime power. Beijing must still import the most vital subcomponents for its shipyards, maritime governance remains severely bureaucratically challenged, and the navy evinces, at least as of yet, little enthusiasm for significant blue water power projection capabilities. This volume provides a truly comprehensive assessment of prospects for China’s maritime development by situating these important geostrategic phenomena within a larger world historical context. China is hardly the only land power in history to attempt transformation by fostering sea power. Many continental powers have elected or been impelled to transform themselves into significant maritime powers in order to safeguard their strategic position or advance their interests. We examine cases of attempted transformation from the Persian Empire to the Soviet Union, and determine the reasons for their success or failure. Too many works on China view the nation in isolation. Of course, China’s history and culture are to some extent exceptional, but building intellectual fences actually hinders the effort to understand China’s current development trajectory. Without underestimating the enduring pull of China’s past as it relates to threats to the country’s internal stability and its landward borders, this comparative study provides reason to believe that China has turned the corner on a genuine maritime transformation. If that proves indeed to be the case, it would be a remarkable if not singular event in the history of the last two millennia.




Theorizing Ocean Governance: A Framework Combining Governance, Science, and Law


Book Description

Ocean governance is emerging as a field of study drawing on and combining different knowledge domains, including governance, science, and law. Assumptions of these three knowledge domains and their relationships are rarely discussed. This study attempts to contribute to such discussion by theory-building: investigating the governance-science and governance-law interfaces in an ocean governance context. The investigations form the basis for offering some perspectives concerning key topics of ocean governance: cross-sectoral, holistic, and integrated approaches, science-based decision-making, adaptation, the ecosystem approach, and ocean governance as an emerging field of study.




A Sea Change: The Exclusive Economic Zone and Governance Institutions for Living Marine Resources


Book Description

This is the first systematic assessment of the international 200-mile exclusive economic zone. To date, 145 states have ratified the Law of the Sea Convention, and most have established EEZs. This volume focuses on the specific nature of the EEZ and the construction and evolution of institutions stemming from its introduction, specifically examining developments at local, national and international levels.




Ocean Governance, Regimes, and the South China Sea Issues


Book Description

​This book uses Chinese version of dialectics to present interpretations of ocean governance, international regimes, issues in the South China Sea in general and the Chinese U-shaped line in particular, through the one-dot theory. It especially serves as a tool for non-Chinese researchers and experts interested in analyzing international relations issues from a Chinese perspective. The dialectical one-dot theory, which is a superior model to the dialectical Yin and Yang or the dialectical crab and frog motion model, provides research and findings that more closely mirror reality than do other, non-dialectical approaches and research methods. Further, it can be applied to both the natural and social sciences. The book is divided into three parts — Methodology, Case Studies Related to International Regimes and Non-“International Regimes,” and Issues Related to the U-shaped Line in the South China Sea — with each chapter structured in terms of the one-dot theory. In addition to researchers and experts involved in marine and maritime affairs, this book will also appeal to all readers interested in Chinese Philosophy, International Relations, and Strategic Culture.




Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law


Book Description

Ocean and coastal law has grown rapidly in the past three decades as a specialty area within natural resources law and environmental law. The protection of oceans has received increased attention in the past decade because of sea-level rise, ocean acidification, the global overfishing crisis, widespread depletion of marine biodiversity such as marine mammals and coral reefs, and marine pollution. Paralleling the growth of ocean and coastal law, climate change regulation has emerged as a focus of international environmental diplomacy, and has gained increased attention in the wake of disturbing and abrupt climate change related impacts throughout the world that have profound implications for ocean and coastal regulation and marine resources. Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law effectively unites these two worlds. It raises important questions about whether and how ocean and coastal law will respond to the regulatory challenges that climate change presents to resources in the oceans and coasts of the U.S. and the world. This comprehensive work assembles the insights of global experts from academia and major NGOs (e.g., Center for International Environmental Law, Ocean Conservancy, and Environmental Law Institute) to address regulatory challenges from the perspectives of U.S. law, foreign domestic law, and international law.




Saving the Oceans Through Law


Book Description

The oceans cover more than seventy per cent of the surface of the planet and they provide many vital ecosystem services. However, the health of the world's oceans has been deteriorating over the past decades and the protection of the marine environment has emerged as one of the most pressing legal and political challenges for the international community. An effective solution depends upon the cooperation of all states towards achieving agreed objectives. This book provides a critical assessment of the role that international law plays in this process, by explaining and evaluating the various legal instruments that have been negotiated in this area, as well as key trends in global ocean governance. Starting with a detailed analysis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the book considers the main treaties and other legal texts that seeks to prevent, reduce, and control damage to the marine environment caused by navigation, seabed exploitation, fishing, dumping, and land-based activities, as well as emerging pressures such as ocean noise and climate change. The book demonstrates how international institutions have expanded their mandates to address a broader range of marine environmental issues, beyond basic problems of pollution control to include the conservation of marine biological diversity and an ecosystems approach to regulation. It also discusses the development of diverse regulatory tools to address anthropogenic impacts on the marine environment and the extent to which states have adopted a precautionary approach in different maritime sectors. Whilst many advances have been made in these matters, this book highlights the need for greater coordination between international institutions, as well as the desirability of developing stronger enforcement mechanisms for international environmental rules.