scholarly journals Emerging Issues on Arctic Environmental and Climate Change Governance: Introduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-438
Author(s):  
Yoshifumi Tanaka ◽  
Beatriz Martinez Romera
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Arctic Climate ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Emerging Issues ◽  
The Law ◽  
Climate Change Governance

Abstract This Special Issue, based on the Third International Conference of the Transatlantic Maritime Emissions Research Network (TRAMEREN), Copenhagen, June 2019, examines emerging issues in Arctic environmental and climate change governance. The law of the sea performs a paramount role in stabilising a legal order in the ocean, including the marine Arctic. However, physical and ecological conditions surrounding the ocean may change over time, particularly in the era of climate change. Thus the antithesis between change and stability in the law of the sea is key when considering effects of climate change on the law of the sea. The six articles in this Special Issue provide insights into the development of the legal framework for governing the marine Arctic addressing, respectively, changing paradigms in the law of the sea, retreating coasts in the Arctic, environmental assessment, the Polar Code, fuel use regulation of Arctic shipping, and Arctic climate interventions.

Donat Pharand: The Arctic Scholar

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 3-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Lalonde ◽  
Ronald St. J. MacDonald
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law ◽  
Key Events

SummaryThe Arctic, long neglected, has been thrust into the limelight as climate change dramatically transforms its landscape. The ice, which for centuries has acted as a powerful barrier keeping the world at bay, is melting at an alarming rate. The promise of greater accessibility to the region inevitably raises a host of important issues. Donat Pharand, an internationally renowned scholar, has dedicated his long and illustrious career to researching and understanding the legal issues pertaining to Canada's claim over the waters of the Arctic archipelago. This article chronicles the key events in his life and examines Pharand's profound contribution to the law of the sea of the Arctic.

The Law of the Sea as Part of the Climate-Change Regime Complex

2020 ◽  
pp. 374-385
Author(s):  
Ingvild Ulrikke Jakobsen ◽  
Elise Johansen ◽  
Philipp Peter Nickels
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Regime Complex ◽  
The Law

An analysis of stagnation in multilateral law-making – and why the law of the sea has transcended the stagnation trend

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Making ◽  
Multilateral Treaties

Abstract The article explores the current stagnation in multilateral law-making based on an analysis of recent treaty attempts across various subfields of international law. It further examines why the law of the sea has continued to evolve despite this trend. The article demonstrates that states still regularly seek multilateral treaties to address new challenges. While there is some evidence of general treaty saturation, it is the current inability of traditional great powers to negotiate new binding norms which is the most constraining factor on multilateral law-making. This in turn is related to deeper geopolitical shifts by which traditional great powers, notably the United States and its allies, have seen their relative influence decline. Until the current great power competition ends or settles into a new mode of international co-operation, new multilateral treaties with actual regulatory effect will rarely emerge. The law of the sea has avoided the current trend of stagnation for primarily three reasons (i) a global commitment to the basic tenets of the law of the sea; (ii) a legal framework that affords rights and obligations somewhat evenly disbursed, allowing less powerful states to use their collective leverage to advance multilateral negotiations, despite intermittent great power opposition; and (iii) the avoidance of entrenched multilateral forums where decisions are reached by consensus only.

scholarly journals Actors and justifications in media debates on Arctic climate change in Finland and Canada: A network approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 000169931989090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Kukkonen ◽  
Mark CJ Stoddart ◽  
Tuomas Ylä-Anttila
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Arctic Climate ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Network Approach ◽  
Policy Actors ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Media ◽  
Arctic Climate Change ◽  
Moral Justifications

In this paper, we examine the centrality of policy actors and moral justifications in media debates on Arctic climate change in Finland and Canada from 2011–2015. We take a network approach on the media debates by analysing relations between the actors and justifications, using discourse network analysis on a dataset of 745 statements from four newspapers. We find that in both countries, governments and universities are the most central actors, whereas business actors are the least central. Justifications that value environmental sustainability and scientific knowledge are most central and used across actor types. However, ecological justifications are sometimes in conflict with market justifications. Government actors emphasize new economic possibilities in the Arctic whereas environmental organizations demand greater protection of the vulnerable Arctic. Ecological justifications and justifications that value international cooperation are more central in the Finnish debate, whereas justifications valuing sustainability and science, as well as those valuing national sovereignty, are more central in the Canadian debate. We conclude that in addition to the centrality of specific policy actors in media debates, the use of different types of moral justifications also reflects political power in the media sphere.

scholarly journals The Arctic Sunrise Incident: A Multi-faceted Law of the Sea Case with a Human Rights Dimension

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 244-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex G. Oude Elferink
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Exclusive Economic Zone ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Economic Zone ◽  
The Law ◽  
Oil Rig

On 18 September 2013, the crew of the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise tried to access the Prirazlomnaya oil rig, which was operating within the Russian Federation’s exclusive economic zone in the Arctic. The following day the Russian authorities boarded and arrested the Arctic Sunrise and detained its crew and charged them with various offenses. The flag state of the vessel, the Netherlands, started an arbitral procedure against the Russian Federation. The present article looks at the issues of international law raised by the arrest of the Arctic Sunrise—which both concern the law of the sea and human rights law—and the arbitration initiated by the Netherlands. Human rights law is essential for assessing the kind of measures a coastal state may take in enforcing its legislation based on the law of the sea in its exclusive economic zone. Providing sufficient room for the freedom of expression may limit the scope of action that might otherwise exist.

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