The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea-still relevant to protection of the marine environment?

TY - CHAP

T1 - The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea-still relevant to protection of the marine environment?

AU - Churchill, Robin

PY - 2023/4/14

Y1 - 2023/4/14

N2 - The aim of this chapter is to consider whether the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) is still relevant to the protection of the marine environment. After explaining that the drafters of the LOSC never intended that it should be a comprehensive treaty to protect the marine environment, the chapter discusses the role of the LOSC in providing the constitutional framework for such protection and the various ways in which the LOSC may be, and has been, developed to address marine environmental matters more effectively. Against that background, the chapter then turns to consider the relevance of the LOSC to three of the most pressing current marine environmental issues, all of which have become apparent since its conclusion. Those issues are the sharp decline in marine biodiversity; the pollution of the sea by plastics; and the impact on the marine environment of increasing emissions of greenhouse gases.

AB - The aim of this chapter is to consider whether the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC) is still relevant to the protection of the marine environment. After explaining that the drafters of the LOSC never intended that it should be a comprehensive treaty to protect the marine environment, the chapter discusses the role of the LOSC in providing the constitutional framework for such protection and the various ways in which the LOSC may be, and has been, developed to address marine environmental matters more effectively. Against that background, the chapter then turns to consider the relevance of the LOSC to three of the most pressing current marine environmental issues, all of which have become apparent since its conclusion. Those issues are the sharp decline in marine biodiversity; the pollution of the sea by plastics; and the impact on the marine environment of increasing emissions of greenhouse gases.

U2 - 10.4337/9781789909081.00008

DO - 10.4337/9781789909081.00008

M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)

AN - SCOPUS:85165144732

SN - 9781789909074

T3 - Research Handbooks in Environmental Law series

SP - 33

EP - 56

BT - Research Handbook on International Marine Environmental Law

A2 - Rayfuse, Rosemary

A2 - Jaeckel, Aline

A2 - Klein, Natalie

PB - Edward Elgar Publishing

CY - Cheltenham

ER -