The Ocean Constitution

As national claims to ocean space proliferated, diplomats tried to set new rules for the oceans. The idea of the oceans as humanity’s “common heritage” gained support as an alternative to freedom of the seas. The negotiations featured divisions between the leading maritime powers, who were most concerned about preserving open access to the oceans, and many coastal countries more concerned with protecting regional waters. The diplomats eventually crafted an elaborate compromise that expanded the territorial sea to 12 miles and created a large new economic zone within which coastal states would have the right to regulate marine resources. A host of other provisions dealt with questions including passage through international straits, regulation of ice-covered areas, and the ocean rights of archipelagic countries. The United States, the leading maritime power, ultimately turned against the agreement, primarily because of concerns about how the treaty would regulate seabed mining.

Il progetto urbanistico per Canosa di Puglia: tra valorizzazione e rigenerazione La rigenerazione della città di Canosa di Puglia

This paper describes the strategy for the enhancement of the archaeological and landscape heritage of Canosa di Puglia. The strategy consists in a cluster of projects and actions, which embrace three main work plans. The first one concerns the geographical area extending from the low valley of the Ofanto river to the slopes of the Murgia plateau. The second one lies on existing practices of common heritage care which many associations and groups of citizens already perform, in order to collect an important piece of the already existing cultural and ecological regeneration process. The third one includes the plan for the enhancement of the important historical-archaeological heritage spread in the inhabited city and its territory – in some cases in a state of decay and abandonment – and the process of the social re-appropriation promoted by three funded urban projects, which aim at organizing a new collective system of green spaces entrusted to sustainable usability.

A fuzzy ontology: on the relevance of ecocentrism in marine environmental ethics

Governing human interaction in the maritime space implicitly rests on the ascription of value to this space. Environmental ethics helps to disentangle the many concepts of value that may come in conflict. As a particularly contested concept, ecocentrism assigns value not just at the atomistic level, but also at the holistic one. It has, however, been subject to criticism, thus challenging the validity of recent approaches to ocean management implicitly resting on ecocentric grounds. This paper provides a new justification for ecocentrism in the marine realm. Instead of relying on notions of community or teleonomy in nature, this paper builds on its ontology. It considers “the Area” beyond national jurisdiction and its declaration as “common heritage.” While a shared understanding of this concept is necessary to put it to practice in the intergovernmental sphere, the paper argues that any characterization of its ontology is subject to fuzziness. In the light of disagreement, fluctuation, and uncertainty on the atomistic level, a holistic perspective on the Area is necessary. Ecocentrism thus allows to overcome the conceptual hindrances and facilitates the implementation of a genuinely common heritage.

Outer limits of the continental shelf beyond CLCS recommendations and Article 76(8) of UNCLOS: With reference to Japan’s Cabinet Order No. 302

In 2014 Japan’s Cabinet Order No. 302 declared the outer limits of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (OL) to the west and north of Oki-no-Tori Shima (Area 302). Oki-no-Tori Shima consists of two small, barren, and uninhabitable rocks in the West Pacific. The northern part of Area 302 is broader than what the 2012 recommendations of the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) specify. A question arises whether Order No. 302 violates Article 76(8) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which provides that the OL established by a coastal state ‘on the basis of’ the CLCS recommendations shall be final and binding. Another question is the role played by the CLCS in ‘assisting’ the coastal states to delimit their national jurisdiction so as to know where the Area (i.e., the Common Heritage of Mankind under UNCLOS Articles 1(1)(1) and 136) begins. The essential questions arising from Area 302 concern how well the UNCLOS mechanism can perform to safeguard the Common Heritage of Mankind through preventing encroachment thereupon by individual coastal states. This article looks at the context and explores the obligations implied by Article 76(8) for coastal states to ‘follow’ the recommendations in establishing the OL, with special reference to the northern part of Area 302. The article also examines legal consequences arising from a breach of these obligations.

Common Heritage of Mankind and the Deep Seabed Area Beyond National Jurisdiction: Past, Current, and Future Prospects

The common heritage of mankind (CHM) is of a relatively recent origin. This study examines Arvid Pardo's speech to the United Nations General Assembly in 1967, in which he urged that body to designate the seabed beyond national control as CHM. The commentary next looks at Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 82, as amended by the 1994 Agreement, which incorporates the CHM as a core principle governing mineral mining in the deep bottom area beyond national jurisdiction. Finally, it discusses CHM's future prospects in relation to the draft International Seabed Authority (ISA) Exploitation Regulations, the Enterprise, an ISA organ that has yet to be operationalized, and ongoing discussions about an international legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity under the UNCLOS. The purpose of this study is to highlight the complexity surrounding the CHM, which is a key principle governing deep seabed activities.

Integrating Sustainable Development into the Adoption of Emergency Orders for the Protection of the Common Heritage of Mankind and the Marine Environment

Subjacent to the concept of sustainable development lies a narrative of prevention or mitigation of damages that can constitute a useful argumentative mechanism. In particular, this narrative provides coherence to the motivation behind emergency orders issued by the International Seabed Authority (ISA), which are aimed at the protection of the common heritage of mankind and the marine environment. Adopting a strong legal discourse from the beginning would subsequently strengthen the position of the Authority before the Seabed Disputes Chamber should a contractor decide to challenge the emergency order. This is especially true in instances where a contractor seeks to determine the liability of the ISA, as well as compensation for any economic losses the emergency order may have caused to its investment.

Dilemma of Multisubject Co-Governance of Global Marine Ecological Environment and Implementation Path

The governance of the global marine ecological environment is closely related to human life and needs to adopt a multisubject co-governance system. There is a lack of understanding of the need for co-governance by multiple subjects for global marine ecological environment protection. Global marine eco-environmental multisubject governance is characterised by fragmentation, lack of coordination, and other issues. It should be recognised that global marine ecological environment protection is a task for all to protect humankind’s common heritage ergaomnes. At the same time, the idea of a global marine ecological environment protection led by an ocean community with a shared future should be established. A global marine ecological environment multisubject co-governance model is set up by establishing a global marine ecological environment governance model alongside a multisubject co-governance committee.

Archetypes in Batsa Gopal Vaidya's Paintings

Batsa Gopal Vaidya's paintings integrate primordial images, symbols, and figures from myths, cultures, and rituals. These images and symbols are the archetypes that appear recurrently in his artworks. The artist shares these primordial images from his collective unconscious, the common heritage of mankind, and the storehouse of archetypes that reappear in the creative process. They suggest the pattern of experiences of our ancestors. These recurring communicable images function as an aesthetic mode of communication in society. Swastika, shaligram, tilaka, the Himalaya, rivers, various deities, and their attributes are such images and symbols that do not only provide aesthetic pleasure but also take the viewers back to their cultural roots, rituals, and myths. This article attempts to trace the archetypes in Vaidya's works and explain their significances.

The Cyberspace and the Common Heritage of Mankind

This chapter analyses whether and on which legal basis the Internet can be considered as part of the common heritage of mankind and, from this perspective, what legal implications would ensue therefrom in relation to the governance of the Internet. Even if cyberspace is not a perfect commons, Internet governance through the contours of the common heritage of mankind concept is an innovative proposal that may be successfully added to the discussion, since the features of this notion seem to create a better legal framework for Internet governance than the present multi-stakeholder approach. This proposal provides one of the best legal frameworks available in international law to achieve the common management of global critical resources for the benefit of all.

Sagapò e Soldatesse: la Grecia degli invasori

Among the many authors who covered the Italian military occupation of Greece (1940-1943), Renzo Biasion and Ugo Pirro still stand out as being the most influential. Their books, halfway between memoir and fiction, tell the stories of soldiers living their youth in a dreamy yet dangerous world, where all men have been deported as war prisoners, and everyday products such as gasoline display Homer’s alfabet. The antifascism of Sagapò (1953), which inspired the Academy Award-winning film Mediterraneo (1991), and Le soldatesse (1956) lays therefore in the rediscovery of a common heritage, both ancient and modern.