Research On Legal System Of The International Marine Environmental Protection

The problem of the marine environment is one of the three major problems that we human beings are faced with in the twenty-first century. The sea has become a great wealth for the sustainable development of human society and the last space on the earth. Following the radical increase of human population, the resources on the land have been in short supply, owing to the extensive exploitation by human beings. It is insufficient for us to rely on only one or two countries'individual statutes or treaties to settle the problems of the marine environmental pollution. We need more close cooperation among all countries concerned, so as to establish a complete set of international and domestic legal systems for the protection of the marine environment. As far as the marine environmental protection is concerned, the international legislation and cooperation therein started in the middle of the twentieth century. The framework of the legal system thereof has come into being, thanks to the constant human efforts over the past fifty years. At the first I makes a survey of several major international conventions on the marine environment. Beginning from the signing of the International Convention To Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil in the 1950's up till now, numerous global or regional pacts and bilateral agreements have come into being, a positive contribution to preventing/reducing/controlling the pollution of the marine environment. Several international conventions of major influence are chosen for further survey and study that specially explore remedies for different origins of pollution. In this chapter, I first gives an introduction to the major contents and far-reaching significance of the 1954 International Convention Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil, namely the first international convention on the marine environmental protection that deals with vessel emission, then goes further to discuss respectively and comprehensively the backgrounds, major contents, features and development of the following conventions: the 1973 International Convention Against Motor Vessels'Pollution that deals with marine pollution by boats and ships; the 1978 Protocol and The 1972 London Convention against marine pollution by dumping waste into the sea; the 1996 Protocol and the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation 1990 (OPRC 90) that deals with urgent response to incidents of oil pollution; the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1996 that deals with civil liability for oil pollution; the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage 1971; the International Convention On Liability And Compensation For Transporting Perilous And Toxic Goods On The Sea; and the 2001 Convention On Civil Liability For Damage Caused By Motor-Vessel Fuel Pollution. All this gives us a full picture of the legal system of the marine environmental protection. At the second I makes a systematic exposition of the rules regarding the marine environmental protection as prescribed by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, namely the most comprehensive law related to the international marine environment and a milestone thereof. The legal system of the marine environmental protection plays a quite important part in the aforesaid Convention, whose Part 12, namely the Protection and Preservation of the Marine Environment that includes a total of forty-five articles in eleven sections of texts, generalizes a comprehensive stipulation on the legal system thereof, dealing with almost all issues concerning the protection of the marine environment. This chapter is aimed to achieve the following goals: to set up a kind of comprehensive legal order, so as to advance the international exchange in this regard, promote the moderate exploitation of the sea and the resources therein, enhance the protection of its biological resources, and facilitate the scientific research and protection of the marine environment; to coordinate the power of exploiting natural resources, maintain and manage the resources and balance the responsibilities of protecting the marine environment; and establish a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of the marine environment. This chapter expounds in all aspects the specific stipulations and features of the laws regarding the marine environmental protection, which includes the concept and classification of the marine environmental pollution, the general rights and liabilities for the marine environmental protection, the coastal countries'responsibilities to prevent marine pollution, jurisdiction of different sea areas and different sources of pollution, the states'liability and compensation for the pollution of the marine environment, and the ways of settling disputes related to the marine environment, etc.At the last I make laws and regulations and management practice in marine environment protection. The legislature and management work of marine environment protection in China began relatively late. Since the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment, especially after the third plenary session of the 11th National Congress of the CPC, China has made great progress in legislature for and the work of marine environment protection. In terms of legislature, a legal system of marine environment protection with Chinese characteristics has been initially formed through three periods, i.e. the start-up period (1972-1982), the taking-shape period (1982-1992) and the developing period (1992- present). In the field of marine environment protection, with thirty years of efforts, much headway has also been made in the survey, monitoring and surveillance, scientific research, education, information service, law enforcement and management system of the marine environment, work on these aspects has been developing from scratch to relative perfection. This chapter expounds in all aspects the characteristics of the marine environment protection laws and regulations in China and the applications of international conventions by observing the history of legislature for and the framework and major contents of laws and regulations of marine environment protection.