Precaution and the Protection of Marine Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Rayfuse
Keyword(s):  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
Legal Development ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
Marine Environmental Protection ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The Law ◽  
Marine Environmental

Abstract As a post-LOSC legal development, the precautionary principle is nowhere enunciated in the Law of the Sea Convention. Nevertheless, in the thirty years since the LOSC’s adoption, the significance of the precautionary principle for marine environmental protection in general and marine resource conservation in particular has been recognised. The language of precaution, the precautionary principle and the precautionary approach have entered the lexicon of the law of the sea, permeating the international community’s efforts to manage and conserve marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. The challenge remains, however, of crafting and implementing management and governance regimes capable of achieving the objectives of precautionary management and turning the rhetoric of precaution into a reality.

scholarly journals THE APPLICATION OF THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE LAW OF THE SEA

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (29) ◽  
pp. 229-259
Author(s):  
Tiago Vinicius Zanella ◽  
Ricardo Pereira Cabral
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Scientific Uncertainty ◽  
International Tribunal ◽  
Irreversible Damage ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
The Precautionary Principle ◽  
The Law

The precautionary principle, invoking the notions of risk, scientific uncertainty and irreversible damage, takes the solution of the environmental issues of the global risk society to the legal domain. Its application in international law has evolved significantly, especially with respect to the protection of the marine environment. This principle, which was much ignored in its practical application, is gradually being used in international environmental protection. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the jurisprudence of the ITLOS has contributed to the development and application of the precautionary principle for the protection of the marine environment and how the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea contributed to the development of this principle in international law. Thus, although we are still not able to safely say that the precautionary approach is included in international law as an unchallenged principle, it has been given great steps over the last few years in this direction. Particularly with the contributions of the international jurisprudence of the ITLOS, the precautionary approach is evolving and becoming an autonomous principle, with less uncertainty and subjectivity that caused so much apprehension for the States and doubt in the doctrine.

scholarly journals Can we Make the Oceans Greener? The Successes and Failures of UNCLOS as an Environmental Treaty

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Mossop
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Incremental Development ◽  
Structural Problems ◽  
Marine Environmental Protection ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The Law ◽  
Marine Environmental

At the conclusion of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982, there was considerable optimism that the Convention would usher in a new age of marine environmental protection. This article argues that, while UNCLOS did contain important innovations for marine environmental protections, key structural problems prevented the Convention from fulfilling more optimistic predictions of success. Concepts such as freedom of the high seas and exclusive flag state jurisdiction as well as the lack of an effective institution with competence over the law of the sea generally have impeded progress. Instead, states have relied on incremental development to seek improvements in the law. The article evaluates whether two recent developments will progress the goal of marine environmental protection. First, a number of recent international judicial decisions interpreting treaty and customary principles of international law have clarified and extended state environmental obligations. Second, negotiations for a new treaty on the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction offer hope that gaps in UNCLOS might be filled.

Law of the Sea

2019 ◽  
pp. 520-538
Author(s):  
Yoshifumi Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Crucial Issue ◽  
Fish Stocks ◽  
Common Heritage Of Mankind ◽  
Marine Environmental Protection ◽  
The Law ◽  
Marine Environmental

The aim of this chapter is to examine the role of the United Nations (UN) in treaty-making in the field of the law of the sea. In particular, this chapter addresses the First and Third United Nations Conferences on the Law of the Sea, and the treaty-making process of two implementation agreements, that is, the 1994 Implementation Agreement and the 1995 Fish Stocks Agreement. In this regard, it is important to note that the tasks of the conferences in the field of the law of the sea have changed over time. At the First UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, its primary task was to establish a legal framework for coordinating interests of individual states according to multiple jurisdictional zones. In contrast, the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea that adopted the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) dealt not only with the reconciliation of competing state interests but also with the safeguarding of community interests, such as the establishment of the deep seabed regime on the basis of the principle of common heritage of mankind and marine environmental protection. As demonstrated by this Conference, the task of treaty-making conferences under the auspices of the UN is no longer limited to the reconciliation of state interests but includes the safeguard and promotion of community interests at sea. Thus, the reconciliation between state interests and community interests should be a crucial issue in treaty-making in the law of the sea.

16 The United Nations: A Practitioner’s Perspective

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corell Hans
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Fish Stocks ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Law

This chapter discusses the contributions of the United Nations to the development of the law of the sea during the period following the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) in 1982. It covers preparing for the entry into force of the LOSC; informal consultations relating to the implementation of Part XI of the LOSC; establishing the Convention institutions after the entry into force of the LOSC; the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS); United Nations conferences on the human environment; the role of the General Assembly; the Meeting of States Parties to the LOSC; sustainable fisheries and straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks; the Oceans and Coastal Areas Network (UN-Oceans); the United Nations open-ended informal consultative process on oceans and the law of the sea; the so-called Regular Process; the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction; and piracy on the agenda of the Security Council.

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