Cambridge.University.Press.Protecting.the.Polar.Marine.Environment.Law.and.Policy.for.Pollution.Prev

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Protecting the polar marine environment

How can we best protect the polar marine environment against pollu￾tion? Leading scholars on environmental law, the law of the sea, and

Arctic and Antarctic affairs examine this important question. To what

extent do existing global instruments of environmental protection apply

to the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean? Can the arrangements

adopted at regional, sub-regional and national levels provide adequate

protection? This book examines and compares various levels of regula￾tion in protecting the marine environment of the Arctic and Antarctic,

with specific attention to land-based activities, radioactive waste

dumping, and shipping in ice-covered waters. Recent developments

since the establishment of the Arctic Council in 1996 and the entry into

force of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty

in 1998 are also discussed. This is a volume that will appeal to polar spe￾cialists and to all those interested in environmental law and policy.

  is Director of the Polar Programme at the Fridtjof Nansen

Institute in Norway, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute. His

recent books include Governing the Antarctic: The Effectiveness and

Legitimacy of the Antarctic Treaty System (with O. S. Stokke, 1996), Arctic

Development and Environmental Challenges (1997), Order for the Oceans

at the Turn of the Century (with W. Østreng, 1999) and Implementing the

Environmental Protection Regime for the Antarctic (2000).

Protecting the polar

marine environment

LAW AND POLICY FOR

POLLUTION PREVENTION

Edited by

DAVOR VIDAS

         

The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom

  

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK

40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA

477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia

Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain

Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa

http://www.cambridge.org

First published in printed format

ISBN 0-521-66311-3 hardback

ISBN 0-511-03390-7 eBook

The Fridtjof Nansen Instutute 2004

2000

(Adobe Reader)

©

     ,



Contents

List of figures xi

List of tables xii

Notes on the contributors xiii

Preface and acknowledgements xv

List of abbreviations xviii

 

Protecting the polar marine environment: interplay of

regulatory frameworks 3

Davor Vidas

Areas dealt with in this book 4

The Arctic and Antarctic regions: similarities and contrasts 5

Structure of this book: interplay of regulatory frameworks 13

 :        

  

1 Globalism and regionalism in the protection of the marine

environment 19

Alan Boyle

Globalism and regionalism in the law of the sea 20

What is a ‘region’? 26

Advantages and disadvantages of regionalism 30

Conclusions 33

2 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the polar

marine environment 34

Budislav Vukas

vii

Applicability of the LOS Convention to the polar oceans 35

Navigation and the protection of the marine environment 38

Enclosed or semi-enclosed seas: Part IX 39

Protection and preservation of the marine environment:

Part XII 42

Part XII and customary international law 45

Part XII and the polar oceans 51

Settlement of disputes: Part XV 53

Final remarks 54

3 Global environmental protection instruments and the polar

marine environment 57

Donald R. Rothwell

Marine pollution conventions and the polar oceans 58

International regulation of ship-sourced pollution 59

International regulation of dumping at sea 63

International regulation of land-based pollution 65

International regulation of maritime emergencies 67

Marine environmental protected areas 70

Other global environmental conventions and their impact on

the polar marine environment 73

Interaction between global conventions and regional regimes

for marine environmental protection 75

Conclusions 76

4 The polar marine environment in regional cooperation 78

Davor Vidas

International cooperative processes for polar environmental

protection: the decade of change 79

Approaches to polar marine environmental protection in

regional cooperation 88

Conclusions: a paradox of similarities or a consequence of

differences? 101

5 Protection of the Antarctic environment against marine pollution

under the 1991 Protocol 104

Christopher C. Joyner

Marine pollution in the Antarctic 105

Marine pollution law in the 1991 Environmental Protocol 107

The annexes 112

The balance sheet 122

viii Contents

6 Sub-regional cooperation and protection of the Arctic marine

environment: the Barents Sea 124

Olav Schram Stokke

Sub-regional collaboration in the Barents Region: effectiveness

concerns 125

Threats to the Barents Sea marine environment 130

Managing the marine environment: sub-regional contributions 134

Conclusions: effectiveness of sub-regional cooperation in the

Barents Sea 146

7 Domestic perspectives and regulations in protecting the polar

marine environment: Australia, Canada and the United States 149

Donald R. Rothwell and Christopher C. Joyner

Canada and the Arctic marine environment 150

The United States and the Arctic marine environment 156

Australia and the Antarctic marine environment 161

The United States and the Antarctic marine environment 166

Polar states and marine environmental protection: conclusions 170

 :       

  

8 Land-based marine pollution and the Arctic: polarities between

principles and practice 175

David VanderZwaag

Crises in Arctic seas 177

Global instruments addressing land-based marine pollution 180

Extra-regional efforts addressing land-based pollution 184

Regional sea agreements relevant to land-based pollution of

the Arctic 187

Arctic regional initiatives addressing land-based

pollution and activities 189

Challenges and future directions 195

9 Radioactive waste in the Barents and Kara Seas: Russian

implementation of the global dumping regime 200

Olav Schram Stokke

The problem of radioactive waste 201

The global dumping regime 203

Implementing the dumping regime: the Russian case 207

Conclusions 218

Contents ix

10 Regulation of navigation and vessel-source pollution in the

Northern Sea Route: Article 234 and state practice 221

R. Douglas Brubaker

The Northern Sea Route: legal controversy 223

Russian regulation: non-compliance with, or interpretation of,

Article 234? 225

Practice of the USA and other states in Russian Arctic waters 239

Conclusions 242

11 The emerging International Polar Navigation Code: bi-polar

relevance? 244

Lawson W. Brigham

Navigating in polar waters 244

Historical perspectives 246

The harmonisation process and developments 248

Key elements of the Polar Code 250

Arctic issues 254

Antarctic issues 256

Assessing the potentials of the Polar Code 259

Conclusions and the future 261

Index of international instruments and national legislation 263

Subject index 268

x Contents

List of figures

10.1 The Northern Sea Route page 222

11.1 Extent of sea ice in the polar oceans 247

xi

List of tables

11.1 Structure and components of the draft Polar Code as page 252

submitted to the IMO, March 1998

xii

Notes on the contributors

Alan Boyle is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Edinburgh.

He is General Editor of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly and co￾author, with P. Birnie, of International Law and the Environment (1993). Among

his many publications are the recent edited volumes, The International Law

Commission and the Future of International Law (with M. Anderson, A. V. Lowe and

C. Wickremasinghe, 1998) and International Law and Sustainable Development

(with D. Freestone, 1999).

Lawson Brigham is a researcher at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of

Cambridge. A US Coast Guard officer 1970–95, he has sailed on all oceans and was

captain of the icebreaker Polar Sea on Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, including

a 1994 scientific crossing of the Arctic Ocean. Captain Brigham has published

widely on polar science, ice navigation and the Northern Sea Route, including edi￾torship of the book, The Soviet Maritime Arctic (1991).

Douglas Brubaker is Senior Research Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, where

he was coordinator of the project on Legal, Political and Security Aspects within the

International Northern Sea Route Programme (INSROP, 1993–8). He is the author

of Marine Pollution and International Law: Principles and Practice (1993) and is

currently preparing a monograph on Russian Arctic waters in international law.

Christopher Joyner is Professor of Government and International Law at

Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He is the author or editor of numerous

publications addressing various issues of international affairs and international

law. An expert on Antarctic politics and law, his recent books include Governing the

Frozen Commons: The Antarctic Regime and Environmental Protection (1998) and

Eagle Over the Ice: US Foreign Policy and Antarctica (co-authored with E. Theis,

1997).

Donald Rothwell is Associate Professor at the University of Sydney Faculty of

Law. He is also acting director of the Australian Centre for Environmental Law, and

has published widely on environmental law, as well as on Arctic and Antarctic

xiii