Regional Co-operation and Protection of the Marine Environment Under International Law

322 Pages·2013·1.79 MB·English

by  Nilufer Oral

Regional Co-operation and Protection of the Marine
Environment Under International Law
Legal Aspects of Sustainable
Development
Series Editor
David Freestone
This series publishes work on all aspects of the international legal dimensions of
the concept of sustainable development. Its aim is to publish important works
of scholarship on a range of relevant issues including conservation of natural
resources, climate change, biodiversity loss and the role of international agreements,
international organizations and state practice.
Volume 16
The titles published in this series are listed at: www.brill.com/lasd
Regional Co-operation and
Protection of the Marine
Environment Under
International Law
The Black Sea
By
Nilufer Oral
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Oral, Nilufer.
 Regional cooperation and protection of the marine environment under international law :
the Black Sea / by Nilufer Oral.
  pages cm. – (Legal aspects of sustainable development)
 Includes index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-25085-7 (hardback : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-90-04-25086-4 (e-book) 
1. Marine resources conservation – Law and legislation – Black Sea. 2. Marine pollution –
Law and legislation – Black Sea. 3. Fishery law and legislation – Black Sea. 4. Black Sea –
History. 5. Azov, Sea of (Ukraine and Russia) I. Title.
 K3590.4.O73 2013
 346.04’69164—dc23
2013013941
ISSN 1875-0923
ISBN 978-90-04-25085-7 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-25086-4 (e-book)
Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV
provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center,
222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
To my father and mother
to whom I owe everything

Contents
Series Editor’s Preface  ............................................................................................... xiii
Acknowledgments  ...................................................................................................... xv
Tables  ............................................................................................................................. xvii
Maps  ............................................................................................................................... xix
Abbreviations  ............................................................................................................... xxi
Introduction  ........................................................................................................................ 1
Chapter I Historical Development of Regional Co-operation in the
Black Sea  ...................................................................................................... 17
1.   Introduction ........................................................................................... 17
2. The Black Sea: From Mare Clausum to Mare Sui Generis  ....... 18
2.1  Black Sea as Mare Clausum  ...................................................... 18
2.2 The Black Sea as a Mare Shared  .............................................. 19
2.3 Multilateralism in the Black Sea  ............................................... 24
2.4 A Sui Generis Regime for the Black Sea  ................................. 26
3. The Historical Development of Regional Co-operation in
Part IX of the 1982 LOSC  .................................................................. 28
3.1   The Soviet “Closed Sea” Doctrine  ............................................. 28
3.2 Marine Regionalism in the Law of the Sea ............................. 32
3.3 UNCLOS III  ..................................................................................... 33
4. Regional Co-operation in Part IX of the 1982 LOSC  ................. 37
4.1   Sources of the Duty of Co-operation under
International Law  ......................................................................... 37
4.2 Judicial Interpretation of Article 123  ........................................ 40
5. Discussion  .............................................................................................. 42
Chapter II State of the Black Sea: The Making and Unmaking of a Sea  ....... 45
1. Evolution of the Black Sea: From Sea to Lake to Sea  ............... 45
1.1  Birth of a Sea  .................................................................................. 45
1.2 Geomorphology of the Black Sea Today  .................................. 47
2. A Sea of Poison, a Sea of Life  .......................................................... 47
2.1  Anoxia  ............................................................................................. 47
2.2 Hydrogen Sulfide  .......................................................................... 49
2.3 Extreme Life  ................................................................................... 50
viii Contents
3. Decline of the Black Sea  ................................................................... 50
3.1  Eutrophication  ............................................................................... 50
3.2 Introduction of Alien Species  ..................................................... 55
3.3 Atmospheric Input of Nutrients  ................................................ 57
4. Marine Biodiversity and Fisheries in the Black Sea  ............... 57
4.1   Overall Biodiversity  ................................................................... 57
4.2 State of Black Sea Fisheries  ..................................................... 58
4.3 Black Sea Marine Mammals  .................................................. 61
5. Black Sea Habitats and Wetlands  ................................................ 63
5.1  Black Sea Marine Habitat Destruction  ................................ 63
5.2 RAMSAR Wetlands in the Black Sea  .................................... 64
5.3 Ecosystem Value of the Black Sea  ......................................... 65
6. Climate Change  ................................................................................. 66
7. The Sea of Azov  ................................................................................. 68
7.1  Background  ................................................................................. 68
7.2  State of Biodiversity and Habitats  ........................................ 69
8. Discussion  ........................................................................................... 70
Chapter III The Regional Legal Framework for the Protection and
Preservation of the Black Sea Marine Environment  .................... 75
1.    Introduction  ....................................................................................... 75
2. Co-operation in the Protection of the Marine Environment
under International Law  ................................................................ 76
2.1   The 1982 LOSC and Protection of the Marine
Environment  ............................................................................... 76
2.2  Regional Seas Model for Co-operation  ................................ 78
2.3   International Law Principles and Norms for Sustainable
Governance of the Marine Environment  ............................. 79
3. Building Sustainable Governance in the Black Sea  ................ 82
3.1  Early Efforts  ................................................................................ 82
3.2  Regional Governance Framework for the Black Sea  ........ 83
3.3  The 2007 Black Sea-TDA Legal and Institutional
 Analysis ........................................................................................ 85
4. Legal Framework for Co-operation for the Protection of the
Black Sea Marine Environment  ................................................... 86
4.1  Obligations, Principles and Actions for Co-operation  ...... 86
4.2 Institutional Framework for Co-operation  .......................... 94
4.3  Commission for the Protection of the Black Sea against
Pollution  ....................................................................................... 95
4.4 BSEC, PABSEC, BSTDB and ICBSS  ........................................ 97
4.5 Black Sea Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)  ..... 100
Contents ix
5. The EU in the Black Sea  .................................................................. 103
6. Regional Seas Governance: A Comparative Analysis  ............. 107
6.1  Mediterranean Sea  .................................................................... 107
6.2 The Baltic Sea – HELCOM  ....................................................... 110
6.3 The North-East Atlantic Sea – OSPAR  .................................. 114
7. Compliance Mechanisms under International Law  ................ 117
8. Discussion  ............................................................................................ 120
Chapter IV Marine Biodiversity in the Black Sea  ................................................. 127
1.  Introduction  ........................................................................................ 127
2. The International Legal Framework for Protection of
Biodiversity  .......................................................................................... 128
2.1  International Conservation Agreements  .............................. 128
2.2 Black Sea Implementation of ICAs  ......................................... 133
2.3  1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention  ............... 136
2.4 Convention on Biological Diversity  ........................................ 138
3. International Principles for the Protection and
Conservation of Biodiversity  .......................................................... 141
3.1   1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development: The “Rio” Framework  ...................................... 141
3.2  Marine Spatial Planning as an Emerging Concept  ........... 143
3.3  Implications for the Black Sea Regional Regime ................ 144
4. Regional Models for the Protection of Marine
Biodiversity  .......................................................................................... 146
4.1  Regional Models and Standard Setting  ................................ 146
4.2 The SPAW Protocol for the Wider Caribbean Region  ....... 146
4.3  The Mediterranean Sea and the 1995 SPAMI
Protocol  ......................................................................................... 149
4.4  European Regional Approach to Protection of
Biodiversity  ................................................................................... 150
5. The Black Sea Regional Framework for Protection of
Biodiversity  .......................................................................................... 152
5.1  Black Sea Strategic Action Plan  ............................................. 152
5.2 The Bucharest Convention  ....................................................... 154
5.3  The Black Sea Biodiversity and Landscape
Conservation Protocol to the Convention on the
Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution  ..................... 156
5.4  Black Sea Biodiversity and Landscape Strategic
Action Plan  ................................................................................... 159
6. Discussion  ............................................................................................ 161