The Law Of The Sea And Climate Change

Explores how the law of the sea can develop in support of the objectives of the United Nations climate regime.

Our oceans are suffering under the impacts of climate change. Despite the critical role that oceans play in climate regulation, international climate law and the law of the sea are developed as two different, largely separate, legal regimes. The main objective of this book is to assess how the law of the sea can be interpreted, developed and applied to support the objectives of the United Nations Climate Regime. By identifying the potential and constraints of the law of the sea regime in supporting and complementing the climate regime in the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, this book offers a new perspective on the law of the sea and its capacity to evolve to respond to systemic challenges, and its potential to adapt and ensure a resilient and sustainable future.

"The editors would like to thank the exceptional group of scholars who agreed to contribute their expertise to this volume. We could not have asked for a more talented, knowledgeable and reliable group of colleagues. It has indeed been a privilege to work with them. Further, we wish to thank Ellen Hey, Jason Czarnezki and Dominique Grace, for valuable inputs at the author workshop held in January 2019. Thanks are also extended to Susan H2ivik (text editor) and Marion Ravna (research assistance) for their invaluable contributions. We are deeply grateful for their all-important work on the manuscript texts and, not least, for not giving up when faced with varying forms of English and reference styles. Our appreciation also to Philipp P Nickels, research fellow at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea (NCLOS), for comments during the final stages of the project, and assistance in synthesizing the findings in Chapter 16"--

Coastal States exercise sovereignty and sovereign rights in maritime zones, measured from their coasts. The limits to these maritime zones are bound to recede as sea levels rise and coastlines are eroded. Furthermore, ocean acidification and ocean warming are increasingly threatening coastal ecosystems, which States are obligated to protect and manage sustainably. These changes, accelerating as the planet heats, prompt an urgent need to clarify and update the international law of maritime zones. This book explains how bilateral maritime boundaries are established, and how coastal instability and vulnerable ecosystems can affect the delimitation process through bilateral negotiations or judicial settlement. Árnadóttir engages with core concepts within public international law to address emerging issues, such as diminishing territory and changing boundaries. She proposes viable ways of addressing future challenges and sets out how fundamental changes to the marine environment can justify termination or revision of settled maritime boundaries and related agreements.

Offers a multidisciplinary edited volume on policy dimensions of climate change for the world's oceans, for researchers, policymakers and activists.

Ocean and coastal law has grown rapidly in the past three decades as a specialty area within natural resources law and environmental law. This book unites the two worlds of climate change regulation and ocean and coastal management. It raises important questions about whether and how ocean and coastal law will respond to the regulatory challenges that climate change presents to resources in the oceans and coasts of the United States and the world.

Gender and the Law of the Sea successfully establishes the relevance of gender at sea and posits that feminist perspectives can help develop a more inclusive law for the oceans.

This book provides new insights into how change occurs in international law, through a uniquely comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms that allow the 'old' treaty-framework of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to respond to changing circumstances.