The Development And Utilization Of Marine Renewable Energy From The Perspective Of International Law

Developing and utilizing the marine renewable energy is a good choice for people to solve the problem of the energy crisis, protecting and improving the environment, because it equips the feature of non-pollution and large reserves. Even though it is a difficult task to make use of the marine renewable energy, it is suggested that the technology has already entered the stage that could meet our demand for large-scale commercial applications. Currently, the major maritime countries around the world has made great progress in the area of wind power and tidal power, the marine renewable energy industry has entered an unprecedented phase of rapid development.However, any exploitation activities on the ocean will be involved in ocean governance, there is no exception of developing and utilizing the marine renewable energy. Developing the renewable energy will occupy a certain area of the ocean space, which will lead to a series of issues, for example:the issue of the right to use the oceans, the legal status and the safety issues of the marine renewable energy installations or structures, the impact of these structures on the maritime traffic safety and the maritime environment, even on the national security and so on. These issues should be regulated in light with the legislation, however, the law with regard to the regulation of the marine renewable energy is not enough and very abstract. Even though there existed some related legislation, this did not satisfy the development of the marine renewable energy industry. The essential problem is how to solve these issues under the framework of the international law, for there is no country owns the absolute sovereignty over the sea, the development activities has to obey the regime based on the1982United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The domestic legislation of the coastal states has to be in line with this international legal framework.From the perspective of the international law, contacting China’s domestic law and considering the idea of "the integrated maritime planning", this research analysis and comment on the international legal framework with regard to the marine renewable energy. The purpose is to provide reference for the improvement of relevant domestic legislation on marine renewable energy development and utilization and some suggestions are also provided.