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The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea - still relevant to protection of the marine environment?
Summary
This chapter evaluates whether the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) remains a useful tool for protecting the marine environment, including from plastic pollution. The author argues that UNCLOS has significant gaps when applied to modern pollution threats. Strengthening or supplementing UNCLOS with new agreements may be necessary to address marine plastic pollution effectively.
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.
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