We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Liability Framework for Microplastic Pollution in Marine Ecosystems
ClearLiability Framework for Microplastic Pollution in Marine Ecosystems
This legal analysis argues that current international treaties — including UNCLOS, MARPOL, and the Basel Convention — are too fragmented and vague to hold anyone accountable for microplastic pollution in the ocean. The authors identify critical gaps around attribution, lifecycle governance, and monitoring standards, and call for a binding global liability framework built around extended producer responsibility and uniform scientific standards. Without clearer rules about who is responsible and what they must do, widespread marine microplastic contamination is likely to continue unchecked.
Dilemma in global governance of marine plastic pollution and regulatory coordination: convention reconstruction via integrated international law
This legal analysis examined fragmented international governance of marine plastic pollution across 17 instruments including UNCLOS, MARPOL, and regional conventions, identifying a gap between soft law priorities and binding enforcement for microplastics. The authors proposed an integrated umbrella convention framework with specialized protocols to align the Global Plastic Treaty with existing agreements and establish enforceable plastic production caps.
Legal Analysis of the Prevention of Marine Microplastics Pollution
This legal analysis examines international law frameworks governing marine microplastic pollution prevention, identifying obstacles including enforcement difficulties, weak jurisdictional clarity, and insufficient coordination among existing treaty regimes, while noting growing attention to microplastics in UN General Assembly resolutions and calling for stronger multilateral legal mechanisms.
International Law and Regulation of Marine Microplastics: Current Situation, Problems, and Development
This study evaluated the current international legal framework governing marine microplastic pollution and identified significant gaps in regulatory coverage. Researchers found that existing global and regional legal instruments lack the specificity and enforcement mechanisms needed to effectively address microplastic contamination. The study offers recommendations for strengthening international law to better regulate the sources and impacts of marine microplastic pollution.
An International Legal Framework for Marine Plastics Pollution
This legal analysis reviews the current international framework for regulating marine plastics and identifies significant gaps and inconsistencies across treaties and agreements. The chapter argues that stronger, more unified global legal instruments are needed to effectively reduce plastic pollution in the world's oceans.
International Legal Systems in Tackling the Marine Plastic Pollution: A Critical Analysis of UNCLOS and MARPOL
This legal analysis examines how two major international agreements, UNCLOS and MARPOL, address marine plastic pollution and identifies significant gaps in their ability to reduce it. The existing laws lack enforceable requirements for reducing land-based plastic waste and have uneven enforcement of rules for ship-based discharges. The paper proposes strengthening international law to promote a circular economy approach, which matters because marine plastic breaks down into microplastics that enter the seafood supply.
Responsibility and Allocation for Environmental Damage Caused by Marine Plastic
Despite its title referencing marine plastic pollution and environmental damage, this paper is primarily a legal analysis of international treaty negotiations over plastic pollution responsibility — not a scientific study of microplastic pollution itself. It examines how national interests and industrial lobbying have stalled the International Plastics Convention and discusses frameworks for allocating environmental liability, and is not directly relevant to microplastic science or human health impacts.
Liability and Compensation for Marine Plastic Pollution: Conceptual Issues and Possible Ways Forward
This paper reviews international legal frameworks for holding polluters liable for marine plastic pollution, finding that existing liability mechanisms are largely inadequate. Stronger international legal tools would create financial incentives for companies to reduce plastic waste before it reaches the ocean.
Scientific Uncertainty of Marine Microplastic Pollution and the Dilemma of Future International Unified Legislation
This legal analysis reviews existing microplastic bans across countries and regions, finding that most only target microbeads in cosmetics rather than addressing the full range of microplastic sources, leaving significant regulatory gaps.
When Law Is Silent: How to Compensate for the Harm to the Health or Property in the Absence of a Particular Harm-Doer?
This legal analysis examined how existing international law frameworks handle compensation for environmental harm caused by diffuse or unattributable sources, such as microplastic pollution, where no single party can be held liable under conventional rules. The paper proposed mechanisms to fill these legal gaps in the absence of a specific liability regime.
An Examination of Evolving Concerns, Obstacles, and Prospects in Relation to Pollution in the Marine Environment
This review examines international and national regulatory frameworks for marine pollution, finding that laws are often reactive — triggered only after environmental disasters — and inadequate for addressing diffuse threats like microplastic contamination. The authors argue that current legal tools need modernization and stronger enforcement to keep pace with emerging pollutants. This is relevant context for understanding why microplastic regulation lags far behind scientific evidence of harm.
Advancing the international regulation of plastic pollution beyond the United Nations Environment Assembly resolution on marine litter and microplastics
This legal paper reviews international frameworks relevant to plastic pollution and argues for a binding global agreement specifically targeting plastic pollution, beyond existing resolutions. A comprehensive international treaty is increasingly seen as necessary to meaningfully reduce plastic pollution, including microplastics.
Crimes of the Past, Present, and Future: Considering the Global Problem of Microplastic Pollution and the Potential for Success within the Public Trust Doctrine
This review examines the legal landscape surrounding global microplastic pollution, arguing that existing international frameworks — including multilateral treaties and nonbinding conventions — have failed to adequately address transboundary MP contamination, and exploring whether the public trust doctrine could provide a stronger governance mechanism.
Regulation, Legislation and Policy—An International Perspective
This review examines international regulatory frameworks for marine plastic pollution under UNCLOS and related agreements, analyzing the obligations of national governments to prevent, reduce, and control marine pollution and the challenges of implementation.
The presence and danger of microplastics in the oceans
This review summarizes the sources, distribution, and ecological dangers of microplastics in ocean environments, highlighting the lack of standardized global regulations and monitoring frameworks as a key barrier to addressing the scale of marine microplastic pollution.
Challenges for Regulation and Management of Microplastic in Environment and Proposed Changes
This review examines failures in international law and national regulations to adequately address microplastic pollution in water bodies, arguing that recent treaty negotiations have been insufficient and proposing regulatory changes to better manage microplastics in the environment.
From micro to macro: legal tools for combating plastic pollution at national, EU, and international levels
Researchers analyzed how laws at the national, European Union, and international levels have evolved to address microplastic pollution, tracing the shift from voluntary guidelines to binding rules like the EU's 2023 restriction on synthetic microparticles. The review identifies ongoing challenges — including inconsistent definitions and weak enforcement — and calls for stronger global governance to close the legal gaps.
Freshwater Pollution by Plastics – Transboundary Pollution and Liability
This legal analysis examined the environmental and health risks of plastic and microplastic pollution in freshwater systems, reviewing the existing international and national legal frameworks for addressing transboundary pollution. The authors identified significant gaps in liability and enforcement mechanisms for freshwater microplastic contamination.
Environmental legislation analysis improvement approach of global marine plastic pollution from the perspective of holistic system view
This review analyzes international laws and regulations aimed at preventing marine plastic pollution, from United Nations conventions to individual country legislation. The authors find that current legal frameworks are fragmented and fail to address the full scope of the problem, including microplastics entering human bloodstreams through the food chain. They propose a comprehensive Marine Plastics Convention that emphasizes environmental justice and stricter risk prevention measures.
Legislation and Policy on Pollution Prevention and the Control of Marine Microplastics
This review analyses international legislation and policies targeting marine microplastic pollution, finding that most existing regulations focus narrowly on microbeads while failing to address other microplastic types, and identifies three systemic dilemmas that impede more comprehensive regulatory frameworks.
Marine Plastic Monitoring, Assessment, and Policy
This review covers the current state of marine plastic monitoring systems, assessment frameworks, and policy instruments globally, examining data collection methods, international agreements, and gaps in enforcement. The authors highlight that inconsistent monitoring protocols and lack of binding global treaty mechanisms remain critical barriers to effective marine plastic governance.
Why we need an international agreement on marine plastic pollution
This commentary argues for the establishment of an international agreement to address marine plastic pollution, noting that plastic debris including microplastics is a pervasive global threat to marine biodiversity, ecosystem services, and potentially human health. The authors highlight that existing regulatory frameworks are insufficient to manage the transboundary nature of the problem. The study calls for measurable reduction targets and coordinated international action to curb the flow of plastic into the world's oceans.
Microplastics: A Review of Policies and Responses
This critical review assembled current knowledge on policies and regulatory responses to plastic pollution globally, including legislative measures, economic instruments, and voluntary commitments. The authors identify a gap between scientific evidence and policy action and call for stronger, more coordinated international governance of plastic pollution.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea - still relevant to protection of the marine environment?
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.