Details of the Initiative
Oceans are a source of food for humans as well as relaxation through sightseeing and leisure. A clean ocean is an important environment for human life. In order to protect the marine environment, the United Nations is currently engaging in negotiations for drawing up a new international legally binding instrument under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). We examine the consistency of its latest draft with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which is described as the constitution of the ocean, and related international conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, and further analyze the direction of international discussions on the protection of the marine environment from a standpoint of law to determine how the BBNJ for protecting the marine environment will affect the existing rules and principles of international law. By referring also to the relevant EU laws and regulations, which leads the creation of international rules on environmental protection such as the Paris Agreement, we analyze the impact of EU legislation on the creation of international rules, and we consider the ideal global law and system for the marine environment that will be required in the future.
