The European Community and Marine Environmental Protection in the International Law of the Sea


Book Description

This books offers a comprehensive and innovative picture of the Community's implementation of its international obligations in the field of the marine environment, looking at the participation of the EC and its member states in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other relevant agreements.




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.




The EU Maritime Safety Policy and International Law


Book Description

This book offers a comprehensive international law analysis of the European Union’s maritime safety legislation. This is a relatively novel field of activity of the EU, but its development has been very rapid. Since 1993, over 40 acts of EU law have been adopted, dealing with a variety of subjects, such as port State control, classification societies, vessel traffic management, ship construction, environmental protection and pollution sanctions. This legislation is analysed from the point of international law, notably the law of the sea and the international maritime conventions. Regional legislation in a field that is traditionally regulated primarily by means of international conventions is bound to create tensions with the related international conventions and with well-established principles of international law. This study assesses how the EU has acted as a flag State, port State and coastal State and measures the trends in this development against the international legal framework. More detailed legal analyses are offered for specific aspects of EU legislation that are considered to be particularly interesting from an international law point of view. The relationship between EU law and international law within the internal EU legal system is also analysed from the specific perspective of maritime safety law.




Regional Co-operation and Protection of the Marine Environment Under International Law


Book Description

In Regional Co-operation and Protection of the Marine Environment Under International Law: The Black Sea, Nilufer Oral examines the regional co-operation mechanism for protection and preservation of the Black Sea marine environment within the framework of international law, and subsequently identifies the necessary components for a robust regional regime based on best legal practices. The book provides a thorough review of the complex modern challenges related to the Black Sea, with particular emphasis on biodiversity, fisheries, land-based pollution and vessel-based sources of pollution. A history of regional co-operation in the Black Sea offers an enlightening comparison to the development of regional co-operation in international law, in particular, to Part IX of the 1982 United Nations (Montego Bay) Convention on the Law of the Sea. Further comparative analyses, such as the existing regional regime of the Black Sea as established under the 1992 UNEP Regional Seas Programme, and selected regional seas programmes, including the acquis communautaire of the European Union, cohere into a firm foundation of present findings, upon which basis the author makes recommendations for the future. All those interested in the Law of the Sea, international environmental law, and fisheries management will find a critical new text in Regional Co-operation and Protection of the Marine Environment Under International Law: The Black Sea.




The Law of the Seabed


Book Description

Characterizing the seabed : a geoscience perspective / Alvar Braathen and Harald Brekke -- Deep-sea ecosystems : biodiversity and anthropogenic impacts / Eva Ramirez-Llodra -- A short human history of the ocean floor / Håkon With Andersen -- Setting maritime limits and boundaries : experiences from Norway / Harald Brekke -- The seabed in the high north : how to address conflicts? / Alexander S. Skaridov -- Current human impact on Antarctic seabed environment and international law / Y.E. Brazovskaya and G.F. Ruchkina -- Commercial mining activities in the deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction : the international legal framework / Joanna Dingwall -- Framework legislation for commercial activities in the area / Erik Røsæg -- Maritime security and deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction / Edwin Egede -- The rights to genetic resources beyond national jurisdiction : challenges for the ongoing negotiations at the United Nations / Tullio Scovazzi -- Marine genetic resources : a practical legal approach to stimulate research, conservation and benefit sharing / Morten Walløe Tvedt -- Deep-sea bottom fisheries and the protection of seabed ecosystems : problems, progress and prospects / Richard Caddell -- Review of national legislations applicable to seabed mineral resources exploitation / Saul Roux and Catherine Horsfield -- European Union law and the seabed / Finn Arnesen, Rosa Greaves, and Alla Pozdnakova -- China's domestic law on the exploration and development of resources in deep seabed areas / Chelsea Zhaoxi Chen -- Implementation of article 82 of the United Nations Convention on the law of the sea : the challenge for Canada / Aldo Chircop -- The use of sub-seabed transboundary geological formations for the disposal of carbon dioxide / Nigel Bankes -- Decommissioning of offshore installations : a fragmented and ineffective international regulatory framework / Seline Trevisanut -- Re-using (nearly) depleted oil and gas fields in the North Sea for CO2 storage : seizing or missing a window of opportunity? / Martha M. Roggenkamp -- International investment law and the regulation of the seabed / James Harrison -- Navigating legal barriers to mortgaging energy installations at sea : the case of the North Sea and the Netherlands / Jaap J.A. Waverijn -- Crossing the sectoral divide : modern environmental law tools for addressing conflicting uses on the seabed / Rosemary Rayfuse -- Commercial arrangements and liability for crossing pipelines, power cables and telecom cables (connectors) on the seabed / Lars Olav Askheim -- Balancing competing interests when building marine energy infrastructures : the case of the nord stream pipelines / David Langlet -- Liability and compensation for activities in the area / Kristoffer Svendsen.




The International Law of the Sea


Book Description

This textbook on the law of the sea sets the subject in the context of public international law. It comprehensively covers the principal topics of the course, from the legal regimes governing the different jurisdictional zones, to international co-operation for protection of the marine environment and marine living resources.




Marine Pollution, Shipping Waste and International Law


Book Description

Waste management poses increasing challenges to both the protection of the environment and to human health. To face these challenges, this book claims that environmental law needs to shift attention from media-specific pollution regimes to integrative life-cycle approaches of waste management i.e., from the prevention of waste generation to the actual handling of wastes. Furthermore, the cooperation of States and the establishment of coordinated activities is essential because states can no longer have separate standards for wastes posing transboundary risks and for ‘purely domestic’ wastes. Drawing upon both International and EU law, the book provides a detailed analysis of the regimes set up to deal with the transboundary movement of wastes and ship-source pollution, so as to elucidate the obligations and legal principles governing such regimes. It concludes that treaty obligations concerning transboundary movements of wastes are inapplicable to ship wastes while on board ships and on land. However, despite the limitations of the transboundary movement of wastes regime, the principle of Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) embodied in this regime has gradually transformed into a legal principle. ESM works to address the legal gaps in the regulation of wastes, and consequently, it provides the desired coherence to the legal system since it acts as a bridge between several regulatory and sectoral levels. Furthermore, ESM offers a new light with which to understand and interpret existing obligations, and it provides a renewed impetus to regimes that directly and indirectly govern wastes. This impetus translates into greater coordination and the establishment of cross-sectional policies. By offering alternative ways to solve problems linked to the management of ship wastes in the sea-land interface, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in International Environmental Law.




International Marine Environmental Law


Book Description

This volume deals with institutions, implementation and innovations in the field of international marine environmental law. It discusses some controversial legal aspects of the marine environment in the context of UNCLOS, as a framework for national, regional and global action in the marine sector. The purpose of this work is to faithfully report scientific expertise, legal insight and policy wisdom presented by the speakers and participants at the Conference. The book identifies major aspects of the current situation and possible future developments in a critical way. Among the key issues covered are implementation and enforcement of environmental conventions; the avoidance, prevention and settlement of disputes; and, liability and compensation for environmental damage. Also included are several articles which discuss the role of the main institutions in this field within the UN system. This volume is based on contributions made at the International Conference on Marine Environmental Law (ICMEL), held by the GAUSS Institute in Bremen, Germany. There is a companion website, specially created to work alongside the texts. A selected bibliography, documents, conventions and links connected to the contents of the book are included to provide an updated and comprehensive resource for the reader: www.andreekirchner.de/imel




The Future of the Law of the Sea


Book Description

This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. It explores the diverse phenomena which are challenging the international law of the sea today, using the unique perspective of a simultaneous analysis of the national, individual and common interests at stake. This perspective, which all the contributors bear in mind when treating their own topic, also constitutes a useful element in the effort to bring today’s legal complexity and fragmentation to a homogenous vision of the sustainable use of the marine environment and of its resources, and also of the international and national response to maritime crimes.The volume analyzes the relevant legal frameworks and recent developments, focusing on the competing interests which have influenced State jurisdiction and other regulatory processes. An analysis of the competing interests and their developments allows us to identify actors and relevant legal and institutional contexts, retracing how and when these elements have changed over time.




Sustainable Development and the Law of the Sea


Book Description

The concept of sustainable development is created to coordinate the relationship between resource uses and environmental protection. Environmental protection is necessary to achieve the goal of sustainable resource uses and economic benefits deriving from resources can provide the conditions in which environmental protection can best be achieved. Sustainable Development and the Law of the Sea offers international legal perspectives on ocean uses including fisheries management, sustainable use of marine non-living resources, and marine protected areas in the context of sustainable development. Pushing that sustainability is a requirement for ocean use as well as for the establishment and development of the world marine legal order, the volume provides a useful reference for policy-makers and the international legal community and for all those interested in ocean governance.