The marine environment is on the brink of disaster! Will international law help?

Sadovnikova Ksenia

Tsypina Alexandra

Shulpina Alexandra

The marine environment is on the brink of disaster! Will international law help?

Introduction:

This topic was chosen by us because the recent disaster in Kamchatka caused a great resonance. Scientists from radically different spheres plunged into the topic of water pollution. Journalists from all over the world are trying to come to Kamchatka to investigate this disaster, environmentalists are trying to take samples and conduct research - that's all in order to understand what is the cause of this tragedy and who is to blame for it.

The problem of water pollution is, of course, not limited to Kamchatka. On almost every beach, you will find heaps of plastic debris dumped either on land or floating in the water. Chemicals are often present, albeit in small quantities, however, are highly toxic and difficult to measure and understand.^{^[1]}

The law of the sea is a complex and exciting topic. The regulations governing the oceans are of great importance to the global community. The nature of the law of the sea can be said to be constantly expanding, which is why this area is so difficult to study.^{^[2]}

In 2015, the World Wildlife Fund valued the oceans at $ 24 trillion to show its value to everyone. By protecting and preserving the marine environment, all states remain in profit. The same environmental disasters pose threats to marine assets. For example, the oil spill on the Exxon Valdez tanker in 1989. As a result of this disaster, the oil slick spilled 1,300 square miles off the coast of Alaska. Now there is a rethinking of the importance of the ocean, people understand that the ocean can no longer contain the waste of human life.^{^[3]}

In this essay, we briefly address the following issues: the LOSC and the Environment, the challenges of regulating the protection of the marine environment against pollution from land at the international level, mechanisms for regulating marine pollution, ensuring compliance with the rules governing the protection of the marine environment.

The main part:

1. LOSC is known as the first global convention for the protection of the marine environment. The convention's approach is based on the use of scientific evidence to manage environmental policy while protecting the environment, using it while minimizing environmental protection. The provisions of the LOSC that ensure the protection of the environment, its natural resources, as well as the fight against pollution, must be respected by measures to protect the marine environment through regional law.

LOSC value:

- The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment is of great importance, since the resources of the marine environment are vital for the preservation of life on Earth. According to the Department of State, “Marine biodiversity and ecosystems are essential for the functioning of the earth's surface and atmosphere inhabited by living things, and therefore for the well-being of people”^{^[4]}.

- The LOSC provisions define the norms for the protection of the marine environment at the international level, based on cooperation between states, which can be implemented in different ways: both directly and through international organizations for the protection of the marine environment as an intermediary.

- LOSC encourages the exchange of data to protect against the spread of damage to the marine environment and reduce pollution risks. This is an opportunity to strengthen international relations, as joint contingency plans can reduce costs and increase shared responsibility, and also lead to the exchange of the latest scientific advances in environmental protection.

- LOSC maintains a spirit of non-interference with state sovereignty. The state should independently measure its impact on the marine environment, and on this basis, the principles of protecting the environment from pollution will be formed. From which it follows that each state will have a unique set of laws, which, however, must comply with international universal principles.

LOSC identifies six types of pollution: (1) land and coastal activities; (2) drilling on the continental shelf; (3) potential seabed mining; (4) discharge into the ocean; (5) pollution from ships; and (6) pollution from the atmosphere or through the atmosphere.^{^[5]}

2. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 80% of marine pollution begins on land.^{^[6]} At the same time, the process of regulating measures to protect the marine environment from pollution from land at the international level has its limitations, which can still be characterized how weak.

The first element relates to the complexity of the sources and substances of land-based pollution. Sources of land-based pollution include a wider range of substances than, for example, oil and oil products in the case of pollution from ships. Moreover, waste discharged into the seas and oceans from land is the result of the work of almost all spheres of the state economy, which makes the legal regulation of the protection of the marine environment from pollution from land is problematic.

The second factor can be described as geographical differences, the most important of which are underwater ocean currents, wind directions, and the isolation of marine ecosystems, which makes the marine environment more vulnerable to the danger of pollution from land.

The third factor relates to the economic development of states, since developing countries have less of the necessary resources to enforce laws to protect the environment, in particular the marine environment. In this regard, some countries are entitled to some kind of loyalty in the field of protecting the marine environment from pollution.

3. Mechanisms for regulating vessel-source marine pollution began to appear back in 1926, then political pressure in the UK and the US led to regulation over oily waste discharges (mainly by non-tankers) beyond the traditional three-mile territorial waters limit. However, this law was never implemented, since the prohibition zones beyond the three-mile limit were highly unrealistic from an enforcement and compliance perspective. Also, it transfer the problem farther out to sea – outside the zones, ships could discharge as they pleased and some oily discharges could still make their way to shore.^{^[7]} Today, the situation has changed a lot, International legal norms relating to the protection of the marine environment from pollution from ships, offshore installations and structures and aircraft are contained in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of waste and other materials, Convention on Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Accidents, the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Control and Cooperation and others.^{^[8]}^{^[9]} As we can see, pollution of the marine environment from ships is not the only problem of International Law, despite all legal acts, waste disposal technologies, ship construction, location of enterprises, in many countries there are problems with emissions into water. This is due to the lack of proper attention to this problem within countries. In addition to International Law, it is necessary to develop domestic legislation. For example, conducting a comparative analysis of international norms and norms of Russian law, researchers come to the conclusion that the domestic legislator is limited only by a kind of duplication of international standards, which contain only general provisions and principles.^{^[10]} It can be concluded that the mechanisms of environmental protection are not sufficiently developed in Russia. Only recently in Russia there have been two major emergency situations with emissions of toxic substances into the water: in Norilsk, where as a result fuel got into the Ambarnaya and Daldykan rivers, and in Kamchatka, where, according to the results of independent experts' research, rocket fuel was released and got through river to the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, this is not the first case of a large-scale ecological catastrophe in Russia, and there are also a huge number of not high-profile cases related to environmental pollution. In our opinion, it is possible to ensure compliance with the relevant rules governing the protection of the marine environment through amendments to legislation, new forms of control, the development of waste disposal facilities, as well as control and training of employees working at environmentally hazardous facilities.

Conclusion:

In this essay, we have covered several main points related to the marine environment and marine pollution. The value of LOSK for the marine environment is great. The organization's regulations define standards for the protection of the marine environment. LOSK helps to develop data exchange between countries, which also increases the level of public responsibility.

Today, international legal norms on the protection of the marine environment are contained in the UN Convention and in other equally important ones. However, these facts do not tell us that the level of responsibility within the countries is also high, unfortunately.

On the example of Russia, we see that the mechanisms of environmental protection are not sufficiently developed. The number of disasters associated with marine pollution is growing more and more. By developing legislation in this area, as well as improving the quality of employee training, the volume of this problem can be reduced.

Literature list:

1. John E. Elliott and Kyle H. Elliott, Tracking Marine Pollution (New York, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2013).

2. Yoshifumi Tanaka, The International Law of the Sea (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012).

3. The Fletcher School, Law of the Sea: A Policy Primer, Chapter 7: LOSC & the Environment. https://sites.tufts.edu/lawofthesea/chapter-seven/

4. U.S. Department of State, “Marine Biodiversity”, http://www.state.gov/e/oes/ocns/opa/biodiversity/index.htm

5. United Nations, “Convention on the Law of the Sea: Protection of the Marine Environment”, 2012. URL: http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_historical_perspective.htm

6. NOAA, “What is the Biggest Source of Pollution in the Ocean?”, May 25, 2015, http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/pollution.html

7. Alan Khee-Jin Tan, Vessel-Sourse Marine Pollution, (Cambridge University Press, New York), 2005, pp. 107-120

8. URL: https://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/LCLP

9. URL: https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_historical_perspective.htm

10. Milyaekhina E.V., Certain aspects of legal regulation of the prevention of pollution of the marine environment in ports, (in Russian) 2011, с. 78 - 83

^{^[1]} John E. Elliott and Kyle H. Elliott, Tracking Marine Pollution (New York, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2013), 556-557.

^{^[2]} Yoshifumi Tanaka, The International Law of the Sea (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012), 16-17.

^{^[3]}The Fletcher School, Law of the Sea: A Policy Primer, Chapter 7: LOSC & the Environment. https://sites.tufts.edu/lawofthesea/chapter-seven/

^{^[4]} U.S. Department of State, “Marine Biodiversity”, (available at http://www.state.gov/e/oes/ocns/opa/biodiversity/index.htm).

^{^[5]} United Nations, “Convention on the Law of the Sea: Protection of the Marine Environment”, 2012 (available at: http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_historical_perspective.htm

^{^[6]} NOAA, “What is the Biggest Source of Pollution in the Ocean?”, May 25, 2015, (available at http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/pollution.html).

^{^[7]} Alan Khee-Jin Tan, Vessel-Sourse Marine Pollution, (Cambridge University Press, New York), 2005, pp. 107-120

^{^[8]} URL: https://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/LCLP

^{^[9]} URL: https://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_historical_perspective.htm

^{^[10]} Milyaekhina E.V., Certain aspects of legal regulation of the prevention of pollution of the marine environment in ports, (in Russian) 2011, с. 78 - 83

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