Julika Tribukait (ELP 2024) | Policy Advisor Coastal Ecosystems, WWF Germany, Germany
The state of the world’s oceans is declining – due to massive pollution, overfishing, increased industrialization of coastal waters, and attempts to exploit the deep-sea, global shipping, and the far-reaching effects of climate change.
Ocean governance is a tricky endeavor. First of all, it is quite fragmented at all levels - from sub-national to international. That means various laws and policies set by different agencies apply to the marine and coastal environment. This is partly due to the distinctive jurisdictions: coastal waters are under the jurisdiction of states, while the High Seas are areas beyond national jurisdiction. At the same time, activities impacting the marine environment are very likely to have transboundary effects. Secondly, enforcement of ocean law and marine regulation is much more difficult than on land.
Legal obligations to protect the world’s oceans have been enshrined in international environmental law for decades and more treaties have emerged or are in the making. The recent advisory opinion of the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea pointed out that the Law of the Sea includes the duty to protect the ocean from the growing input of GHG emissions (ITLOS. “Press Release: Tribunal Delivers Unanimous Advisory Opinion in Case No. 30.”). This provides a new legal reference point and highlights the interconnectedness of climate law and environmental law.
The question now is: How to make the use and implementation of long-standing law as well as new interpretations and provisions more effective for a healthy and resilient ocean? What about the communities that depend on it and are increasingly threatened by its worsening condition? It’s time for us to take a proactive step and establish an Ocean Law Clinic.
The establishment of such an institution could facilitate:
- supporting actors (e.g., coastal communities) in understanding which environmental laws and policies apply to the marine or coastal area of their concern,
- identifying synergies as well as gaps and inefficiencies of existing marine, coastal, and other relevant environmental legislation and regulation, and offering thought leadership on legal solutions,
- enforcing existing laws and policies by publicly pointing at illegal activities and litigation.
And why a clinic? Law Clinics are usually set up by universities to allow their students to practice and at the same time provide legal counsel and support at little to no cost. It’s a win-win: future advocates get better training, while those with fewer means get free access to legal services. To improve the concept, an entity like an international NGO working closely with local communities, while maintaining a global network, could enhance the matchmaking between actors in need and the clinic.
Coastal communities all over the world are threatened by the declining health of the ocean as well as more frequent extreme weather events and sea-level rise. Many of them depend on the resources and ecosystem services marine and coastal ecosystems provide. You may be a member of a coastal community yourself, and you have done nothing to harm your environment. However, you may still suffer from the use of the ocean as the world’s dumping site and climate change buffer, from its overexploitation, the massive number of vessels passing it every day, and the related infrastructure. Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone who supports you in standing up for your rights and enhancing your rights to a healthy environment and the rights of the ocean itself?
So I’m asking the world's ocean, environmental, and climate law and governance experts, lecturers, researchers, and practitioners: Who is in favor of releasing the power of ocean law?
[The blog post image is originally from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea Photo Galleries, "Request for an Advisory Opinion Submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law."]