scholarly journals Enforcement and sanctioning system deficit under UNCLOS? A closer look at the Fukushima accident

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-59
Author(s):  
Hanna Banaszek
Keyword(s):  
International Cooperation ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Fukushima Accident ◽  
The Public ◽  
Marine Life ◽  
Sources Of Pollution ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi ◽  
Source Of Pollution

The marine pollution is rarely debated from the perspective of land-based sources of pollution under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This article centres not only on a land-based source of pollution of the sea, but also a very particular one – the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident. Apart from causing severe infrastructural damage and posing a radiation-related threat to the public, Fukushima has had a lasting impact on the marine environment, too. Especially,since the operator of the plant has so far been unsuccessful in completely eliminating the radioactive leakage into the seas. This article considers the actual impact of the accident on the marine life along with the relevant recovery and remediation measures aimed to limit said impact, all in the light of the provisions of UNCLOS. Especially, with regard to its problematic (rather underdeveloped) enforcement and sanctioning system which should be more balanced, considering the various contemporary sources of pollution of the seas. Notwithstanding, UNCLOS will most likely further strengthen international cooperation with the ultimate aim of preventing the pollution of the world’s oceans.

Part V Subject Matter, Ch.31 The Protection of the Marine Environment Pollution and Fisheries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabra Adriana
Keyword(s):  
Marine Environment ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Marine Biodiversity ◽  
Technological Changes ◽  
The Core ◽  
Sources Of Pollution

This chapter begins by looking at the role of the 1982 UN Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS) as the framework legal instrument on the oceans. Indeed, the UNCLOS is one of the most significant international law instruments of all time and is at the core of today's governance of the oceans. UNCLOS is a product of the time when it was negotiated, which brought together a desire to provide global stability to competing jurisdictional claims over the oceans and devise solutions to rapidly increasing rates of marine pollution. However, technological changes and increased or unforeseen sources of pollution and habitat destruction have exposed some of the Convention's limitations, which derive from a fragmented perspective of the marine environment, and a failure to address the interaction between different ocean uses and marine stressors and provide rules on the conservation of marine biological diversity. The chapter then evaluates global and regional treaty requirements, soft law instruments, and case law concerning the protection of the marine environment from various sources of pollution, and the conservation of marine living resources, with a focus on fisheries, and the protection of marine biodiversity.

scholarly journals Violation of Marine Pollution Laws in Karachi Harbour Became an Environmental Challenge

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Muhammad Tahir
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Pollution Control ◽  
Coastal Waters ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Marine Life ◽  
Standard Values ◽  
Marine Vessels ◽  
Environmental Challenge

This article appraises the Factors deteriorating marine environment due to violation of marine pollution laws in Pakistani waters. The environmental degradation of Pakistani waters especially in Karachi coast became a serious threat to the marine environment, marine life as well as human health and marine vessels since long for society. It is determined the level and the distribution pattern of various heavy metals in the coastal waters significantly higher than the standard values. Pollution created by a number of sources is the major contributing factor in this regard. Amongst all, the deteriorating environment in Pakistani waters warrants immediate corrective actions to control Marine Pollution in order to curtail further destruction by this menace. Many steps at Governmental and private level have been initiated however, improvement is a dream. It is rightly to mention that there is no dearth of legislation on the pollution control but implementation of the same by all the concerned agencies and cooperation by public in true letter and spirit is a dream. The prevailing environment cannot be improved without effective enforcement of existing laws in its true perspective by removing all obstacles and difficulties with creating political will of society.

scholarly journals OIL DISCHARGE BY SHIPS AS A FORM OF SECURITY THREAT IN MALAYSIAN PORTS

1970 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharifah Zubaidah Syed Abdul Kader ◽  
Abdulkadir O. Abdulrazaq
Keyword(s):  
Marine Environment ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Global Institutions ◽  
Prior Consent ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
Irreparable Damage

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 and some other conventions contain provisions concerning protection of marine environment that enjoy the support of many other regional, national and global institutions. Vessel- sourced pollution is one of the major sources of marine pollution that encompasses accidental as well as, intentional discharge of oil and chemicals, dumping, etc. The Malaysian legal framework requires the consent of the relevant authority for a discharge that is above the quantity allowed.  However, despite the fact that there have been numerous regulations on the pollution of the marine waters it appears that pollution by vessels is still on the increase. The legal framework stipulating conditions for discharge of oil at seas is well established in many jurisdictions like Malaysia, however, some of the legal regulations appear to be inadequate, thereby threatening the marine environment and causing irreparable damage. This paper recommends prior consent of the appropriate authority and a stiffer penalty for every discharge of oil by vessels in order to avert hazardous damage.        Keywords: ,

OFFSHORE OIL POLLUTION: LAW AND ENFORCEMENT

1975 ◽  
Vol 1975 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10
Author(s):  
Roy D. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Oil Pollution ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Santa Barbara ◽  
Voluntary Programs ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
The Public ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
Offshore Oil

ABSTRACT The Torrey Canyon (1967) and Santa Barbara (1969) occurrences dramatized the unique nature of offshore oil pollution risks and the lack of a definitive legal system for dealing effectively with prevention, cleanup, and compensation. Although it is not the major part of the far more serious problem of marine pollution and is caused mainly by land-sourced activity, offshore oil pollution constitutes an increasingly important hazard because of the expanded, accelerating offshore search for alternate petroleum sources and unparalleled technological innovation. As offshore petroleum activity is essentially a transplant of land-based activity to a marine environment, the law of the sea and certain traditional legal principles are in an evolutionary process of adaptation to new factual situations. Considerable progress has occurred during the last two decades, but law and enforcement at international and regional levels are still not effective, while national regimes in the context of increasing nationalization of the sea by coastal states are in danger of becoming chaotically inconsistent. Two approaches hold realistic promise: first, industry's voluntary programs, which are impressive in scope and efficiency; secondly, joint government/industry consultation, cooperation, and action, which accentuates the strengths and minimizes the weaknesses of the only two parties capable of protecting and advancing the public interest and encourages more effective law and enforcement.

scholarly journals Panel Session toward Improved Communication and Engagement with the Public after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident: Study Reports and Discussion with Specialists from Relevant Fields

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 134-142
Author(s):  
Hiroko Yoshida ◽  
Yujiro Kuroda ◽  
Takahiko Kono ◽  
Wataru Naito ◽  
Akihiro Sakoda
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Public Understanding ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Health Physics ◽  
Fukushima Accident ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Expert Study

Background: From 2018 to 2020, the Expert Study on Public Understanding after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident (the Expert Study Group) identified and analyzed activities designed to promote public understanding of science and radiation since the Fukushima accident, and held discussions on how to achieve public understanding in the situation where public confidence has been lost, and how experts should prepare for dealing with the public. This panel session was held at the 53rd meeting of the Japan Health Physics Society on June 30, 2020.Materials and Methods: First, three subgroup (SG) leaders reported their research methods and results. Then, two designated speakers, who participated as observers of the Expert Study Group, commented on the activities. Next, the five speakers held a panel discussion. Finally, the rapporteur summarized.Results and Discussion: SG leaders presented reports from researchers and practitioners in health physics and environmental risks who provided information after the Fukushima accident. During the discussion, experts in sociology and ethics discussed the issues, focusing on the overall goals of the three groups, local (personal) and mass communication, and ethical values. Many of the activities instituted by the experts after the accident were aimed at public understanding of science (that is, to provide knowledge to residents), but by taking into account interactions with residents and their ethical norms, the experts shifted to supporting the residents’ decision-making through public engagement. The need to consider both content and channels is well known in the field of health communication, and overlaps with the above discussion.Conclusion: How to implement and promote the public engagement in society was discussed in both the floor and designated discussions. Cooperation between local communities and organizations that have already gained trust is also necessary in order to develop relationships with local residents in normal times, to establish an information transmission system, and to make it work effectively.

scholarly journals La nouvelle convention sur le droit de la mer et la lutte contre la pollution marine d'origine tellurique

2005 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-377
Author(s):  
Louis Taschereau
Keyword(s):  
International Cooperation ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Pollution Control ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
The Law

Several articles of the Charter of the Law of the Sea deal with land-based pollution, which is responsible for approximately 90% of all high sea's pollution. A detailed study of these articles shows that the Charter under-emphasizes the importance of land-based pollution. Authority to solve marine pollution is left to coastal states, who are but vaguely obliged to encourage means of regional cooperation to curtail damage to marine environment. These obligations are a first step in the long and difficult process of bringing about efficient pollution control by way of international cooperation.

Comparison of thyroid doses to the public from radioiodine following the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents

2021 ◽  
pp. 014664532110068
Author(s):  
Sergey M. Shinkarev
Keyword(s):  
Chernobyl Accident ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Nuclear Power Plants ◽  
Ecological Models ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Fukushima Accident ◽  
The Public ◽  
Thyroid Dose ◽  
Fukushima Daiichi

Estimates of thyroid doses to the public from radioiodine intake following the accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants are compared. The basis for thyroid dose estimates after the Chernobyl accident was a large set of measurements of 131I thyroidal content for approximately 400,000 residents in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. Due to a lack of direct thyroid measurements after the Fukushima accident (just over 1000 residents were measured), thyroid doses were estimated based on ecological models and are therefore associated with much higher uncertainty than those based on direct thyroid measurements. Thyroid dose estimates for evacuees were up to 50,000 mGy for Chernobyl and up to approximately 100 mGy for Fukushima. This large difference in thyroid dose to the public is mainly due to the different dominant pathways of radioiodine intake: ingestion of fresh, locally produced cows’ milk (Chernobyl) and inhalation of contaminated air (Fukushima).

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