Tridacna gigas, the world’s largest living bivalve, could once be found on shallow coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific Region where its presence can be traced back to around 10 million years. However, following several local extinctions throughout its geographic range, its South China Sea (SCS) population appears to have also been the subject of unprecedented …
The importance of identifying, preserving and protecting marine biological diversity (biodiversity) has been a growing theme in the last 20 years. Given UNCLOS centrality, pre-eminence and comprehensiveness, all other specific conventions that apply to the marine environment such as those that pertain to specific uses of the sea (eg shipping) or to the conservation of …
The expansion of the Rome Statute system is a clear indication of the judicialisation of international law, a normative trend that has accelerated in the past few decades. However, the current state of judicialisation cannot be regarded as ‘a linear story of success’.’ According to a critical analysis of Asian States’ overall engagement with the …
The ‘law of nations’ that colonial powers invoked to claim the South China Sea islands was based not on international convention or custom but on their own municipal laws on guano concession. It provides that states have the exclusive right to assert title over distant islands where their respective citizens have engaged in economic activities. …
A Critical Legal Approach to the South China Sea Territorial Dispute Read More »
The marine environment of Southeast Asia is amongst the most ecologically important in the world. A substantial volume of international shipping passes through the region which can have a deleterious effect on the environment due to impacts including operational and accidental discharges, collisions and groundings. Recently Malaysia, Indonesia, Viet Nam and the Philippines have introduced …
The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is widely viewed as a ‘constitutive’ instrument that provides a legal framework that is being filled in, rounded out and complemented by existing and subsequently enacted international agreements and customary international law. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is the preeminent international organization with …
The Relationship between UNCLOS and IMO Instruments Read More »
This chapter uses the interaction of submarine cables and the marine environment of the Sargasso Sea as an example to extrapolate useful lessons for both the negotiators of the new high seas agreement and the cable industry that can guide them in future discussions on the interaction between submarine cables and the new legal regime. …
Submarine Cables in the Sargasso Sea: Lessons for the Prep-Com Read More »
On 12 July 2016, the Tribunal in the South China Sea arbitration issued its final award. China rejected the ruling as ‘null and void’. The Philippines dismissed it as ‘a piece of paper’ after initially hailing the ruling a ‘milestone decision’. The reactions of the parties concerned raise important questions about the bindingness, finality, and …
