Researchers' Activities

Dr Nilüfer Oral, CIL Director, and Robert Beckman, Head, CIL Ocean Law & Policy, were invited to attend the online Adoption Ceremony of the Model Agreement between Singapore and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on 11 June 2020. Disputes referred to the ITLOS can now be heard in Singapore under the agreement signed by Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam and ITLOS President, Judge Jin-Hyun Paik.

Dr Tara Davenport, CIL Senior Research Fellow, participated at the ASEAN Regional Forum Workshop on Dispute Resolution and Law of the Sea held in Dili, Timor-Leste from 27 to 28 February 2020. The workshop was hosted by Timor-Leste and co-chaired by Malaysia and Australia. Dr Davenport presented on ‘Compulsory Conciliation under UNCLOS: Prospects for Future Use‘ and also moderated a panel on resolving disputes in relation to maritime boundaries.

Youna Lyons, Senior Research Fellow in the Ocean Law and Policy Programme of CIL, participated in the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Meeting on the assessment on sources, pathways and hazards of litter including plastic litter and microplastics pollution. She was nominated by Singapore government and confirmed by UNEP as an expert in the SAC. The meeting took place on 25–27 February 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya.

The main purpose of the meeting was the drafting of an assessment on sources, pathways and hazards of marine litter and microplastic and its presence in the rivers and oceans, scientific knowledge about adverse effects on ecosystems, potential adverse on human health and environmentally sound technology innovations. This report will be presented at Lisbon UN Ocean Conference in June 2020 and submitted to inform UNEA 5 in 2021.

Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons participated in the Expert Workshop organised by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to Identify Options for Modifying the Description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) and Describing New EBSAs. She was appointed by Singapore government to attend this workshop, which took place on 3–5 February 2020 in Brussels, Belgium. The workshop report will provide a basis for preparation of a proposal by the Secretariat on the topic of the Expert Workshop, for submission to the next meeting of the scientific body, SBSTTA.

Senior Research Fellow Vu Hai Dang participated in the workshop by China-Southeast Asia Research Center (CSARC) on Regional Cooperation on Marine Environmental Protection in the South China Sea in Bali, Indonesia. Dr Vu Hai Dang presented on sensitive and protected marine areas under international law and the value of MPA network in the South China Sea. In particular, he spoke on CIL’s research on area-based management tools in the South China Sea: map of sensitive marine and coastal areas in the South China under international law, ‘Moving from MPAs to Area-based Management Measures in the South China Sea’, ‘National MPA Laws in the South China Sea: A Comparison and Suggestions for MPA Law Reform in China’.

Senior Research Fellows Youna Lyons and Tara Davenport participated in a workshop on Informal-Law Making in the Law of the Sea organised by Professor Natalie Klein at the University of New South Wales from 9 to 10 December 2019 in Sydney, Australia. The workshop is part of a long-term research project on informal law-making and law of the sea led by Professor Klein under an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship Grant. Ms Lyons presented on ‘IMO Measures to Limit Impact from International Shipping’ and Dr Davenport presented on ‘Formal and Informal Lawmaking by the International Seabed Authority’.

Research fellow Arron N Honniball presented a co-authored draft paper, ‘The Next Bastion in Combating IUU Fishing: The Role of Nationality Jurisdiction in CCAMLR & Beyond’, at the 12th Polar Law Symposium held at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (Hobart, Australia).

Senior Research Fellow Vu Hai Dang took part in the Third Meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-Ended Expert Group on Marine Litter and Microplastics in Bangkok, Thailand, on 18–22 November 2019. The meeting was organised by United Nations Environment Programme, and the agenda was the implementation of the Resolution 4/6 of the 4th United Nations Environment Assembly held in March 2019. At the meeting, Dr Vu Hai Dang introduced CIL’s research on marine plastics—in particular the report ‘A Review of Research on Marine Plastics in Southeast Asia: Who Does What’—to national delegates, NGOs and industry representatives.

CIL co-sponsored the International Conference on Legal, Scientific and Economic Aspects of Deep Seabed Mining held in Kingston, Jamaica from 14 to 16 November 2019. The conference was co-organised by the International Seabed Authority and the Center for Ocean Law and Policy (University of Virginia School of Law) and co-sponsored by Institute for China America Studies, Korean Maritime Institute and the World Maritime University.

CIL sponsored the participation of the following participants, who presented at the conference. 

• ‘The Role of the Seabed Disputes Chamber in Dispute Settlement Relating to Activities in the Area’ by Judge Albert Hoffmann of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
• ‘Environmental Issues’ by Dr Philomene Verlaan, visiting oceanographer at the University of Hawaii and Trustee of the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea
• ‘Possible Forums for Liability Claims Arising from Deep Seabed Mining: Problems and Prospects’ by Dr Tara Davenport, Senior Research Fellow at CIL

Senior Research Fellow Youna Lyons was invited to speak at the 2nd ASEAN Regional Forum Workshop on Implementing UNCLOS and Other International Instruments to Address Emerging Maritime Issues in Hanoi on 13–14 November 2019. She gave two presentations during the session on degradation of the marine environment and impacts on sustainable management and conservation of marine resources: 

• ‘The building of a regional node for the East Asian Seas and the global partnership on marine litter and microplastic’
• ‘Threatened and endangered species and the management of offshore and other marine activities’