The Legal Regime For Deep Seabed Mining Under The Law Of The Sea Convention

This book looks at the multidisciplinary aspects of the legal, economic, and scientific aspects of deep-sea mining, whilst, providing a rich historical background on the work and progress of the International Seabed Authority over the last 25 years of its existence.

The Law of the Seabed reviews the most pressing legal questions raised by the use and protection of natural resources on and underneath the world’s seabeds. While barely accessible, the seabed plays a major role in the Earth’s ecological balance. It is both a medium and a resource, and is central to the blue economy. New uses and new knowledge about seabed ecosystems, and the risks of disputes due to competing interests, urge reflection on which regulatory approaches to pursue. The regulation of ocean activities is essentially sector-based, and the book puts in parallel the international and national regimes for seabed mining, oil and gas, energy generation, bottom fisheries, marine genetic resources, carbon sequestration and maritime security operations, both within and beyond the national jurisdiction. The book contains seven parts respectively addressing the definition of the seabed from a multidisciplinary perspective, the principles of jurisdiction delimitation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the regimes for use of non-living, living and marine biodiversity resources, the role of state and non-state actors, the laying and removal of installations, the principles for sustainable and equitable use (common heritage of mankind, precaution, benefit sharing), and management tools to ensure coexistence between activities as well as the protection of the marine environment.

This three-volume work is concerned with the rules of international law governing the exploitation of the energy and mineral resources to be found on and under the sea-bed. Volume 3 complements the previous two volumes by making available a selection of the principal documents referred to in volume 1 "The" "Continental Shelf" and volume 2 "Sea-Bed Mining." The documents are arranged in three Parts. Part 1 includes document on the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone; Part 2 covers the United Nations regime for the Area beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, including the landmark Mining Code adopted in July 2000; and Part 3 has a selection of national legislation on sea-bed mining and related co-ordinating treaties. Also included is a table showing the status, as at 1 October 2000, of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of the UN Convention. This volume will be a useful practical tool for academics, practitioners, and policy-makers concerned with the legal regime governing sea-bed energy and minerals and presents a carefully selected set of documents indispensable for a full understanding of the regimes analysed in the earlier volumes.

Human activities have taken place in the world's oceans and seas for most of human history. With such a vast number of ways in which the oceans can be used for trade, exploited for natural resources and fishing, as well as concerns over maritime security, the legal systems regulating the rights and responsibilities of nations in their use of the world's oceans have long been a crucial part of international law. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea comprehensively defined the parameters of the law of the sea in 1982, and since the Convention was concluded it has seen considerable development. ThisOxford Handbook provides a comprehensive and original analysis of its current debates and controversies, both theoretical and practical. Written by over forty expert and interdisciplinary contributors, the Handbook sets out how the law of the sea has developed, and the challenges it is currently facing. The Handbook consists of forty chapters divided into six parts. First, it explains the origins and evolution of the law of the sea, with a particular focus upon the role of key publicists such as Hugo Grotius and John Selden, the gradual development of state practice, and the creation of the 1982 UN Convention. It then reviews the components which comprise the maritime domain, assessing their definition, assertion, and recognition. It also analyses the ways in which coastal states or the international community can assert control over areas of the sea, and the management and regulation of each of the maritime zones. This includes investigating the development of the mechanisms for maritime boundary delimitation, and the decisions of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The Handbook also discusses the actors and intuitions that impact on the law of the sea, considering their particular rights and interests, in particular those of state actors and the principle law of the sea institutions. Then it focuses on operational issues, investigating longstanding matters of resource management and the integrated oceans framework. This includes a discussion and assessment of the broad and increasingly influential integrated oceans management governance framework that interacts with the traditional law of the sea. It considers six distinctive regions that have been pivotal to the development of the law of the sea, before finally providing a detailed analysis of the critical contemporary issues facing the law of the sea. These include threatened species, climate change, bioprospecting, and piracy. TheHandbook will be an invaluable and thought-provoking resource for scholars, students, and practitioners of the law of the sea.

The deep seabed beyond national jurisdiction (known as the Area) comprises almost three-quarters of the entire surface area of the oceans, and is home to an array of prized commodities including valuable metals and rare earth elements. In recent years, there has been a marked growth in deep seabed investment by private corporate actors, and an increasing impetus towards exploitation. This book addresses the unresolved legal challenges which this increasing corporate activity will raise over the coming years, including in relation to matters of common management, benefit-sharing, marine environmental protection, and investment protection. Acting under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the International Seabed Authority is responsible for regulating the Area for the benefit of humanity and granting mining contracts. A product of its history, the UNCLOS deep seabed regime is an unlikely hybrid of capitalist and communist values, embracing the role of private actors while enshrining principles of resource distribution. As technological advances begin to outstrip legal developments, this book assesses the tension between corporate commercial activity in the Area and the achievement of the common heritage.

This three-volume work is concerned with the rules of international law governing the exploitation of the energy and mineral resources to be found on and under the sea-bed. Volume 3 complements the previous two volumes by making available a selection of the principal documents referred to in volume 1 The Continental Shelf and volume 2 Sea-Bed Mining. The documents are arranged in three Parts. Part 1 includes document on the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone; Part 2 covers the United Nations regime for the Area beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, including the landmark Mining Code adopted in July 2000; and Part 3 has a selection of national legislation on sea-bed mining and related co-ordinating treaties. Also included is a table showing the status, as at 1 October 2000, of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 and the 1994 Agreement relating to the Implementation of the UN Convention. This volume will be a useful practical tool for academics, practitioners, and policy-makers concerned with the legal regime governing sea-bed energy and minerals and presents a carefully selected set of documents indispensable for a full understanding of the regimes analysed in the earlier volumes.