Periodic Reporting for period 4 - SUSTAINABLEOCEAN (Accommodating New Interests at Sea: Legal Tools for Sustainable Ocean Governance)
Reporting period: 2020-04-01 to 2021-01-31
Economic activities at sea are rapidly multiplying. There are the traditional sectors of oil and gas, and fisheries, which are expanding. Beyond that, there are new economic activities. Consider, for instance, renewable energy technologies. Offshore wind farms are now located in shallow waters close to the coast. But soon the development of wind turbines will allow to move them into remote locations. And, of course, deep seabed mining or geo-engineering (e.g. ocean fertilisation and carbon storage and capture). While planning any maritime activity, decision-makers need take into account a series of interests: ensuring the continuity of the relevant economic activities; protecting the marine environment; mitigating of climate change effects; guaranteeing energy efficiency and security; and protecting the rights of the local communities.
When it comes to international law, it is crucial to note that these interests go hand in hand with different fields of the law. The interests and fields of law may be competing. But they may also reinforce each other. Even if legal regulation is fragmented, it is all the same necessary to take all interests into account at the same time. This means cutting across fragmented fields of the law. This means regime interaction. From the study of selected maritime activities and their legal framework, the SUSTAINABLEOCEAN project has strived to answer the research question: how can the law strike a balance between competing interests at sea and contribute to the sustainable use of the ocean? In order to do so, the research team has identified patterns of regime interaction and assessed their impact on the different maritime uses.
The project has thus developed a new line of research that is based on a theory of interest- and regime-interaction in ocean governance. It proposes a three-fold approach to regime interaction (Regime Interaction in Ocean Governance, Brill 2020, 222-233) to help commentators and practitioners to better understand and explain: how the relevant legal frameworks interact; how to solve possible tensions between the legal frameworks; how energy and climate change law are re-shaping ocean governance. The research team has also shed light on some of the major challenges the law of the sea faces amidst climate change and sustainable transition processes and, ultimately, offers some guidance on how the law participates and contributes to those processes for current and future generations.
When it comes to international law, it is crucial to note that these interests go hand in hand with different fields of the law. The interests and fields of law may be competing. But they may also reinforce each other. Even if legal regulation is fragmented, it is all the same necessary to take all interests into account at the same time. This means cutting across fragmented fields of the law. This means regime interaction. From the study of selected maritime activities and their legal framework, the SUSTAINABLEOCEAN project has strived to answer the research question: how can the law strike a balance between competing interests at sea and contribute to the sustainable use of the ocean? In order to do so, the research team has identified patterns of regime interaction and assessed their impact on the different maritime uses.
The project has thus developed a new line of research that is based on a theory of interest- and regime-interaction in ocean governance. It proposes a three-fold approach to regime interaction (Regime Interaction in Ocean Governance, Brill 2020, 222-233) to help commentators and practitioners to better understand and explain: how the relevant legal frameworks interact; how to solve possible tensions between the legal frameworks; how energy and climate change law are re-shaping ocean governance. The research team has also shed light on some of the major challenges the law of the sea faces amidst climate change and sustainable transition processes and, ultimately, offers some guidance on how the law participates and contributes to those processes for current and future generations.
The research team organised three main events. The workshop "Regime Interaction in Ocean Governance: Problems, theories and methods" took place on 19-20 April 2018. The aim of workshop was twofold: 1) dissecting the concept of ocean governance in order to have a better understanding of the regime interaction taking place therein; 2) testing one of the premises of the project: to facilitate the realization that competing interests and objectives, buttressed by the different regimes, do not always generate tension, and may often benefit in a mutual way. The presented papers are now available in the edited volume (Brill 2020), which was positively reviewed (IJMCL 2021, 1-7).
In June 2019, the team organised a workshop on ‘Sovereignty: a shape-shifting concept in ocean governance?’ where R. Roland Holst and N. Giannopoulos could present and discuss parts of their PhD theses with leading experts. The workshop aimed at examining the tensions and interactions between traditional connotations and functions of sovereignty and its role in today’s changing legal and physical environment, and at focusing on the functions of sovereignty regarding the regulation of the exploitation of marine energy resources. A report summarising the discussions is available (https://www.uu.nl/sites/default/files/rgl-susocean_report_sovereignty_expertworkshop_2019.pdf.
The final conference of the project on 'Accommodating Multiple Interests at Sea' took place online on 3-4 Sept. 2020. The conference focused on the different legal mechanisms which govern the balance of competing interests when there is an element of novelty and regulatory uncertainty. The novelty can lie in new uses (e.g. geo-engineering, renewable energy, restoration activities) and users of the ocean (e.g. classification societies; NGOs), the development of new technologies for ‘old’ uses (e.g. the navigation of unmanned vessels, the use of drones for maritime surveillance), or the progressive development of our understanding of relevant environmental challenges (e.g. consequences of climate change on the oceans, the existence of biological diversity in the deepest waters). The SUSTAINABLEOCEAN project focused on four ‘legal tools’/techniques, which served as the conference's central themes: 1. Due diligence as an obligation and as a balancing standard; 2. The role of regionalism in the global framework as a mechanism for the accommodation of multiple interests; 3.Balancing principles in the interpretation of international law; 4. The role of state consent and the participation of other actors in international law making and law implementation. The presented papers are under review for their publication; a report on the conference will soon be available on the website where the recordings of the sessions are already accessible.
Both PhD students successfully submitted and defended their theses within the project period. R. Roland Holst defended on 5 Oct. 2020 her thesis 'Change in the Law of the Sea: Context, Mechanisms and Practice,' which received the 'cum laude' distinction and was accepted for publication (Brill). N. Giannopoulos successfully defended on 2 Nov.r 2020 his thesis 'International Law and Offshore Energy Production: Shaping Marine Environmental Protection through Normative Interactions,' currently under revision for its submission to a publisher.
The project database was developed by the junior researchers (N. Mileva, V. Aiyedogbon, I. Girgiç). The database creates an online research platform which brings together academic sources related to the three main dimensions of the project. It also provides a platform where the research performed by members of the team during the project can be showcased and disseminated.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the performance of the research team in the last period of the project and on the completion of one objective: 6) Elaborate recommendations for stakeholders on how to use (legal and financial) tools in order to achieve a sustainable use of the oceans. The lockdown and the stress caused by the new situation have forced the PI to focus on what was already ongoing: the completion of the two PhD theses and organisation of the final conference. Many of the papers presented there focused on topics and analytic approaches that can be of interest for stakeholders. It is the hope of the PI to still manage to compile some recommendations in the near future.
In June 2019, the team organised a workshop on ‘Sovereignty: a shape-shifting concept in ocean governance?’ where R. Roland Holst and N. Giannopoulos could present and discuss parts of their PhD theses with leading experts. The workshop aimed at examining the tensions and interactions between traditional connotations and functions of sovereignty and its role in today’s changing legal and physical environment, and at focusing on the functions of sovereignty regarding the regulation of the exploitation of marine energy resources. A report summarising the discussions is available (https://www.uu.nl/sites/default/files/rgl-susocean_report_sovereignty_expertworkshop_2019.pdf.
The final conference of the project on 'Accommodating Multiple Interests at Sea' took place online on 3-4 Sept. 2020. The conference focused on the different legal mechanisms which govern the balance of competing interests when there is an element of novelty and regulatory uncertainty. The novelty can lie in new uses (e.g. geo-engineering, renewable energy, restoration activities) and users of the ocean (e.g. classification societies; NGOs), the development of new technologies for ‘old’ uses (e.g. the navigation of unmanned vessels, the use of drones for maritime surveillance), or the progressive development of our understanding of relevant environmental challenges (e.g. consequences of climate change on the oceans, the existence of biological diversity in the deepest waters). The SUSTAINABLEOCEAN project focused on four ‘legal tools’/techniques, which served as the conference's central themes: 1. Due diligence as an obligation and as a balancing standard; 2. The role of regionalism in the global framework as a mechanism for the accommodation of multiple interests; 3.Balancing principles in the interpretation of international law; 4. The role of state consent and the participation of other actors in international law making and law implementation. The presented papers are under review for their publication; a report on the conference will soon be available on the website where the recordings of the sessions are already accessible.
Both PhD students successfully submitted and defended their theses within the project period. R. Roland Holst defended on 5 Oct. 2020 her thesis 'Change in the Law of the Sea: Context, Mechanisms and Practice,' which received the 'cum laude' distinction and was accepted for publication (Brill). N. Giannopoulos successfully defended on 2 Nov.r 2020 his thesis 'International Law and Offshore Energy Production: Shaping Marine Environmental Protection through Normative Interactions,' currently under revision for its submission to a publisher.
The project database was developed by the junior researchers (N. Mileva, V. Aiyedogbon, I. Girgiç). The database creates an online research platform which brings together academic sources related to the three main dimensions of the project. It also provides a platform where the research performed by members of the team during the project can be showcased and disseminated.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the performance of the research team in the last period of the project and on the completion of one objective: 6) Elaborate recommendations for stakeholders on how to use (legal and financial) tools in order to achieve a sustainable use of the oceans. The lockdown and the stress caused by the new situation have forced the PI to focus on what was already ongoing: the completion of the two PhD theses and organisation of the final conference. Many of the papers presented there focused on topics and analytic approaches that can be of interest for stakeholders. It is the hope of the PI to still manage to compile some recommendations in the near future.
The SUSTAINABLEOCEAN project has been at the forefront of debates concerning the future of the oceans and their sustainable transition. By focusing on the interaction between relevant applicable regimes, proposing mechanisms through which handling those interactions and by shedding lights on pressing challenges (e.g. climate change, geo-engineering, the impact of new technologies), the results of the project consist of solid building blocks for the advancement of knowledge and the shaping of future policies.