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About Globalex

UPDATE: Researching International Marine Environmental Law 

 

by Arundhati Ashok Satkalmi 

 

Arundhati Ashok Satkalmi is the Reference and Documents Research Librarian at the Rittenberg Law Library of St. John's University School of Law.  Prior to joining St. John's in 1991, Aru worked as the Senior Information Specialist in the corporate headquarters of the Exxon Corporation in New York.  In addition to the Masters in Library Science from St. John's University, she holds Masters in Government and Politics where she specialized in International Law.  She wrote a thesis titled International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship's Ballast Water and Sediments of 2004: An Analysis of Logical and Practical Aspects.  She also holds a Master of Science degree in Geology from Poona University.  She has presented the topic of International Marine Environmental law to the Indian Society of International Law and American Association of Law Librarians.

 

Published November 2007
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Table of Contents 

 

Introduction

International Maritime Organization (IMO)

The United Nations

National and/or Regional Webpages

Websites of Educational Institutions

Periodicals

Monographs

Associations

Shipping Organizations/Associations

Miscellaneous

 

Introduction

 

There was a time, when nations felt fortunate if their national boundaries were marked by bodies of water.  This sense seemed to be proportionate to the expanse, depth, and length of the body of water marking the national territory.  Knowing that water is not the natural habitat of humans, the nations, particularly with marine boundaries, felt a sense of security because traversing the expanse of oceans would have been a daunting task.  However, with the progress of civilization, floating vessels appeared on the watery expanses and advances in marine navigation and engineering transformed the vessels from win-dependent sailboats to steam-propelled ships.  This, in turn, changed the role of oceans from daunting barriers to routes facilitating marine trade.  Today, in the age of globalization, not only exotic items but also items of daily necessities such as clothing, food products, and oil (the life blood of modern society) are transported over oceanic routes and claim more than an 90% share of international traffic.  Today, although the nations with expansive marine coasts and harbors can be considered fortunate in that they have easy access to global trade, they have also become the recipients of marine pollution caused by marine traffic.  Naturally, there is a call for an increase in the regulation of growing pollution caused by international vessel traffic.

 

For decades, such calls were handled by the International Maritime Organization (IMO, or the Organization).  The Organization came into existence on March 17, 1958 when the IMO Convention took effect.  Until 1982, the IMO was known as International Maritime Consultative Organization or IMCO.  It is “the United Nation’s specialized agency responsible for improving maritime safety and preventing pollution from ships.”[1]  In keeping with the changing times, its mission has evolved from regulation of international shipping to the current mission expressed as "safe, secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans."  The IMO has portrayed a good picture of present day challenges to environment in a recent article.[2]   In less than 50 years, it has developed close to 40 conventions.  Five of these conventions deal exclusively with marine environment and are in force.  In addition, two recently-adopted conventions are waiting to enter into force.  The treaties dealing with regulation of marine environment will be addressed later.

 

Along with the IMO, which has played a prominent role at the global level in developing international legal instruments, several regional organizations,[3]  and non-governmental organizations are also addressing the issue and are developing legal instruments to protect the marine environment.  Many of these organizations, including the IMO, have developed impressive websites. Exhaustive treatment of these resources will fill up volumes and take considerable time and money.  So, for the time being, this article will emphasize the sources that reflect the efforts to develop international instruments to regulate the marine environment.[4]  For the most part, the information at these sites is made available at no charge.  Though the article focuses on non-commercial sources, Lexis and Westlaw are included when appropriate.   

International Maritime Organization (IMO)

 

This website of the agency of the United Nations is responsible for developing international legal instruments dealing with maritime regulations.  Not only does it provide the history and information about the Organization, but also informs about all of its conventions, news, studies and reports, and resources such as its library and archives.  It guides users from the workings of the organization itself to the status of developed and developing treaties.  The five IMO treaties which are currently in force and two recently developed treaties which will soon become effective are listed below.

 

  1. International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto (MARPOL 73/78)
  2. International Convention Relating to Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties (INTERVENTION), 1969
    Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (LDC), 1972
  3. International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC), 1990
  4. Protocol on Preparedness, Response and Co-operation to pollution Incidents by Hazardous and Noxious Substances, 2000 (HNS Protocol)

 

In addition two more environmental conventions have been adopted:

 

  1. International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti – Fouling Systems on Ships (AFS Convention).[5]  In September 2007, Panama became the 25th country to ratify the AFS  convention.  And according to the terms of the convention, it will enter into force in September 2008.[6]
  2. International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention).[7]  As of Sept 2007, 10 countries have ratified the convention.[8]

 

Various IMO components and affiliates assist the Organization in its mission of maintaining safe and clean oceans.  Their websites — as described below — complement the IMO's website:

 

  • Marine Environment Protection Committee — plays a vital role in developing the instruments to protect the marine environment.  Documents issued in connection with the session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee are available online.
  • GESAMP — The acronym represents a joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection.  It is sponsored by IMO, FAO, UNESCO-IOC, WMO, IAEA , UN , UNEP , and UNIDO. The group deals with all scientific aspects of the prevention, reduction and control of the degradation of the marine environment and provides authoritative, independent, interdisciplinary scientific advice to organizations and member Governments to support the protection and sustainable use of the marine environment.
  • GLOBALLAST — Global Ballast Water Management Programme.  This is a cooperative effort of the IMO, Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its purpose was to assist developing countries in raising awareness about the danger of invasive species and implementing measures to minimize the adverse impacts of aquatic invasive species transferred by ships in ballast water.  The program was initiated in 2000 and successfully completed in 2004.  A new phase known as GloBallast Partnerships was initiated in 2005 and is scheduled to become operational by 2008.[9]  The full name of the Globallast Partnership project is Building Partnerships to Assist Developing Countries to Reduce the Transfer of Harmful Aquatic Organisms in Ships’ Ballast Water.  14 developing sub-regions, 13 Lead Partnering Countries, and over 40 countries are expected to participate in the project.[10]

The United Nations

 

Unlike the UN treaty database, the United Nations Environmental Programme — along with the Environmental Law Instruments index as well as Environmental Statistics - and the associated Links provide invaluable supplementary and complementary information about the legal instruments which specifically deal with the marine environment.

Global Environmental Facility

 

Global Environment Facility, which participated in the Globallast programme, has a website which deals with several environmental issues.   Marine ecosystem related information is covered under International Waters link.

National and/or Regional Webpages

 

The following pages inform us about national and regional laws and policies which may have bearing on the international instrument(s).  Examples are:

 

  • Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Center — Assists Mediterranean coastal States in the implementation of the Protocol concerning Co-operation in Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea by Oil and Other Harmful Substances in Cases of Emergency.  Contains information contributed by member countries in the region, technical publications, and meeting related documents.
  • PEMSEA — Regional Programme for Marine Pollution Prevention and Management in the East Asian Seas region.  It has been established to work on trans-boundary environmental challenges in the region.

Websites of Educational Institutions

 

Through their specialized programs, activities, research, along with their libraries, publications and publications of distinguished authors and scholars associated with the institutions provide valuable clues for furthering research.  Some such institutions are:

 

Periodicals

 

Some of the relevant periodicals are listed below.  Full texts of a number of them are searchable and accessible electronically by Lexis and Westlaw.  In addition, a relatively new service, HeinOnline, also offers electronic searching and retrieval capability for some of the publications listed below.  However, HeinOnline retrieves articles in PDF format.

 

 Monographs

 

An exhaustive list of relevant monographs will certainly overwhelm this article.  Therefore, a representative list is compiled using Worldcat.  Detailed bibliographic record of the items as well as libraries which have the item of interest in their collection can be found out by using the hyperlinks.

 

Oceans and health: pathogens in the marine environment; Shimshon Belkin, Rita R Colwell, ISBN: 0387237089 9780387237084 0387237097 9780387237091; ©2006.

 

Protecting the marine environment from land-based sources of pollution: towards effective international cooperation; Daud Hassan; ISBN: 0754646017 9780754646013; ©2006.

 

The state of the marine environment: trends and processes; L Jeftic, Andrea Matte-Baker, M Schomaker; United Nations Environment Programme. GPA Coordination Office; ISBN: 9280727087 9789280727081; 2006.

 

Blueprint 2050: sustaining the marine environment in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar; H Jack Ruitenbeek, Indu Hewawasam, M A K Ngoile; World Bank; ISBN: 0821361236 9780821361238; 2005.

 

The state of the marine environment: regional assessments; Sherry Heileman; United Nations Environment Programme. GPA Coordination Office; ISBN: 9789280727647 9280727648; 2006.

 

Monitoring the quality of the marine environment, 2003-2004; Robin J Law, Gill Hustwayte, Donna Sims; Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Great Britain); OCLC: 123492681; 2006.

 

International Marine Environmental Law:  Institutions, Implementation and Innovations; Andree Kirchner; ISBN: 9041120661; 2002.

 

Inland waterways; ports and channels; and the marine environment. National Research Council (U.S.), Transportation Research Board; National Research Council (U.S.). Transportation Research Board. Meeting; ISBN: 0309093821 9780309093828; 2005.

 

Managing Britain's marine and coastal environment: towards a sustainable future; Hance D Smith, Jonathan Potts; ISBN: 0415329450 9780415329453; 2005.

 

White Sea: its marine environment and ecosystem dynamics influenced by global change; Nikolai Filatov; ISBN: 3540205411 9783540205418; ©2005.

 

British Columbia Coast and Marine Environment Project, 2006; Biodiversity, British Columbia; Ministry of Environment, Strategic Policy Division; OCLC: 75272260, 2006.

 

Marine environment protection and biodiversity conservation: the application and future development of the IMO's particularly sensitive sea area concept; Julian Roberts, Ph. D.; ISBN: 9783540376972 3540376976; ©2007.

 

Washington Sea Grant: knowledge for use in the marine environment; Washington Sea Grant Program, United States; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; OCLC: 123361112 [2007].

 

Stakeholder views about the marine environment and its protection; Julie A N Warren, Luke Procter; New Zealand, Dept. of Conservation; ISBN: 0478140215 9780478140217; ©2005.

 

The effects of UV radiation in the marine environment; S J De Mora, Serge Demers, Maria Vernet; ISBN: 0521020956 9780521020954 0521632188 9780521632188; 2005.

 

Remote sensing of the marine environment: 15-17 November 2006, Goa, India; Robert Frouin; Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers; Chinese National Committee for Remote Sensing; ISBN: 0819465135 9780819465139; 2006.

 

Legal regime of marine environment in the Bay of Bengal; M Habibur Rahman; ISBN: 8126907592 9788126907595; 2007.

 

Assessing habitat risks associated with bivalve aquaculture in the marine environment., Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat, OCLC: 169578394, 2006.

 

The impacts of economic activities on the marine environment of the Bahamas: land-based vulnerability and waste-loading analyses; Garin F Davidson, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Division of Marine Affairs; OCLC: 76964442; 2006.

 

Human impacts in the marine environment: 2005 Annual Conference of New Zealand Marine Sciences Society, 4th International Conference on Marine Bioinvasions, and NZ-US MARGINS Programme Meeting : conference programme, information and abstracts; New Zealand Marine Sciences Society, Conference; International Conference on Marine Bioinvasions, Margins Programme; ISBN: 0473102994 9780473102999; 2005.

 

Modeling approaches to assess the potential effects of shellfish aquaculture on the marine environment; Jon Chamberlain; Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat, OCLC: 170967362; ©2006.

 

International legal problems of the environmental protection of the Baltic Sea ; Fitzmaurice, M.; ISBN: 0792314026 9780792314028; 1992.

 

State of the Hellenic marine environment; E Papathanassiou, Argyro Zenetos; ISBN: 9608665183 9789608665187; 2005.

 

India's environmental policy with special reference to marine environment; Sudha Raghavan;  ISBN: 8171172261 9788171172269, 2005.

 

The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution Report "Turning the Tide": addressing the impact of fisheries on the marine environment: the Scottish Executive response; Scotland. Scottish Executive; ISBN: 0755950909 9780755950904; 2006.

 

Turning the tide [electronic resource]: addressing the impact of fisheries on the marine environment.

 

State of the marine environment in SW Wales: 10 years after the 'Sea Empress' oil spill; Jon Moore; Countryside Council for Wales; OCLC: 166624565, 2006.

 

Pollution from offshore installations ; Gavouneli, Maria; ISBN: 1859661866 1853332755 (series); 1995,

 

Cleaner coasts, healthier seas: the state of the marine environment in England and Wales; Great Britain, Environment Agency, OCLC: 64663392; 2005.

 

Cleaner coasts, healthier seas: working for a better marine environment : our strategy for 2005-2011, Great Britain. Environment Agency; OCLC: 64663385; 2005.

 

Safer ships, cleaner seas: a reflection on progress; Donaldson, Lord; OCLC: 67877615; 1999.

 

The United Nations Environment Programme and the marine litter challenge: a short overview of activities of the United Nations Environment Programme related to addressing the problem of marine litter, UNEP Regional Seas Programme;  OCLC: 123993648; 25 Apr. 2005.

 

The Stockholm declaration and law of the marine environment; Myron H Nordquist, John Norton Moore, Said Mahmoudi; ISBN: 9041199403 904119942X; 2003.

 

Globalism: people, profits, and progress: proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Canadian Council on International Law, Ottawa, October 18-20, 2001; ISBN: 9041198997 9041199004; 2002.

 

The Marine Mammal Commission compendium of selected treaties, international agreements, and other relevant documents on marine resources, wildlife, and the environment; Second Update; Weiskel, Heidi W.; ISBN: 0160506883; 2000.

 

Canada and marine environmental protection: charting a legal course towards sustainable development; VanderZwaag, David L.; ISBN: 9041108564; 1995.

 

Ballast water management convention = Convention sur la gestion des eaux de ballast = Convenio sobre la gestión del agua de lastre; International Maritime Organization; ISBN: 9280100335 9789280100334; 2005.

 

Analysis of alternatives to mid-ocean ballast water exchange for nonindigenous species protection; Beth Quitadamo; OCLC: 71126658; 2006.

 

International convention for the control and management of ships' ballast water and sediments of 2004: an analysis of logical and practical aspects; Arundhati Ashok Satkalmi, OCLC: 61672342; 2005.

 

Exotic species and the shipping industry: the Great Lakes St. Lawrence ecosystem at risk: a special report to the governments of the United States and Canada; ISBN: 1895085144; 1990.

 

The introduction of nonindigenous species to the Chesapeake Bay via ballast water: strategies to decrease the risks of future introductions through ballast water management ; Chesapeake Bay Commission; OCLC: 32250924; 1995.

 

Ballast water: ecological and fisheries implications; Carlton, James T.; OCLC: 41228685; 1998.

 

Effect of environmental treaties on U. S. seaports: a cost-benefit analysis of MARPOL Annex VI; Sarah M Flagg; OCLC: 70852688; 2006.

 

MARPOL : articles, protocols, annexes, unified interpretations of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the protocol of 1978 relating thereto, International Maritime Organization; ISBN: 928014216X 9789280142167; 2006.

 

Marine Protection Amendment Rules 2007: Prevention of Pollution by Oil MARPOL revised annex I: invitation to comment; Maritime New Zealand; OCLC: 174094380; [2007].

Associations

 

Associations’ webpages make a good resource to learn about members' mindset and the clues about their support or opposition to the specific legal instruments.  Also, they provide links to texts or abstracts of their publications.  Overall, these pages keep the interested parties abreast of the new developments about an issue.

 

Shipping Organizations/Associations

 

These sites provide information similar to that provided by Association's webpages.

 

Miscellaneous

 

 


[1] IMO Webpage accessed on October 8, 2007.

[2] World Maritime Day 2007: IMO's response to current environmental challenges; IMO News magazine 2007, issue 2; page 14

[3] United Nations Environmental Programme gives a list of regional organizations with links to their websites here.

[4] An article by Heidi Frostestad Kuehl titled A Basic Guide to International Environmental Legal Research was published in May 2006 issue of Globalex is a good source of complementary information.

[5] Access International Maritime Organization. Select “marine environment” on the dark blue horizontal tab bar and select Anti Fouling Systems from the vertical column on the right.

[6] Michael Grey; Lloyd’s List; September 19, 2007; Panama Signature Puts Lid on TBT Paints; available on Westlaw 2007 WLNR 18272297

[7] Access International Maritime Organization.  Select “marine environment” on the dark blue horizontal tab bar and select Ballast Water Management from the vertical column on the right.

[8] Lloyd’s List; September 27, 2007; Global Shipping and Green Priorities Come Together; available on Westlaw 2007 WLNR 18893265

[9] IMO News; No. 2, 2005; GloBallast Ballast Water Management Project Enters New Phase; p. 9.

A telephone conversation in September 2007 with Jose Matheickal informed about the operational date of the Globallast Partnership Project.

[10] IMO News; No 3, 2007; Funding approved for next phase of GloBallast Partnerships.; p. 10.