In 1994, a long debated compromise on the issue of seabed mining became the starting pistol for the development of modern ocean law and its complex interrelations. Now, over twenty years later, the framework set by such agreements as the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea has been expanded to cover contemporary concerns of environmental sustainability, economic development, social justice, human rights, security, marine pollution, and even the challenges of climate change. Yet the journey is not smooth. This book forms part of a three volume series that examines the more successful ocean law schemes and the less effective, and presses the need for change, as scientific and technological innovation, the surge in human population, and pressing moral concerns open new spaces for ocean law.
In the first volume in the series the focus is on the United Nations and its legal structures: what is its history in ocean governance, are UN institutions capable of handling the challenges they face, and do legal structures need to be expanded to truly realize the ambition of a global ocean governance system?
