Law Commons^™

Governance Of Arctic Marine Shipping, David Vanderzwaag, Aldo Chircop, Erik Franckx, Hugh M. M. Kindred, Moira Mcconnell, Angus Hugh Mcdonald, Ted Mcdorman, Tony George Puthucherril, Phillip Saunders, K. Joseph Spears

Reports & Public Policy Documents

The governance of shipping activities in the Arctic might be described as a “complicated mosaic.” The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), often referred to as the constitution of the oceans, sets out the overall legal framework for the regulation of shipping. The Convention sets out coastal state legislative and enforcement powers over foreign ships according to the maritime zones of jurisdiction laid out in the Convention. A fragmented array of international agreements attempts to address specific challenges raised by shipping such as marine pollution prevention standards, ship safety, seafarer rights and qualifications, and liability …

Law And Policy Options For Strategic Environmental Assessment In Canada, Hugh J. Benevides, Denis Kirchhoff, Robert B. Gibson, Meinhard Doelle

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This research paper has been produced for the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency on behalf of the sub-committee on Strategic Environmental Assessment (the SEA sub-committee) which is in turn mandated by the Minister of the Environment’s Regulatory Advisory Committee (RAC). The immediate need for the report is a request from RAC to the SEA sub-committee to research and report on law and policy options for improving the conduct of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in Canada, with a focus on the federal level.

The purpose of the paper is to provide an impartial, research-based assessment of the best approaches to designing and …

Home State Responsibility And Local Communities: The Case Of Global Mining, Sara L. Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Home states that are actively engaged in global mining have considered and rejected calls to regulate the conduct of transnational mining corporations so as to prevent and remedy human rights and environmental harms. This reluctance to regulate is often expressed as a concern that extraterritorial regulation will conflict with the sovereignty of foreign states. This paper argues that the public international law of jurisdiction is permissive of home state regulation that can be justified under the nationality or territoriality principles, provided that there is no true conflict with an exercise of host state jurisdiction. In the human rights and environment …

Home State Obligations For The Prevention And Remediation Of Transnational Harm: Canada, Global Mining And Local Communities, Sara Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Canadian mining companies, stock exchanges, mining professionals, and the Canadian government itself, play a significant role in global mining. This unpublished PhD dissertation, completed in January 2008, explores whether Canada has a legal obligation to regulate to prevent and remedy human rights and environmental harm associated with Canadian mining companies operating abroad. Canada and global mining serve as a case study to explore the broader question of whether home states have obligations under international environmental and human rights law. The key claims examined in this dissertation are as follows. First, the exercise of unilateral home state jurisdiction over transnational corporate …

The Protection Of The Marine Environment From Land-Based Pollution And Activities: Gauging The Tides Of Global And Regional Governance, David Vanderzwaag, Ann Powers

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

After providing an introductory overview of the major land-based threats to the marine environment, this article focuses upon the specific global and regional efforts to address land-based marine pollution and activities through a four-part survey. The main international initiative is first described, namely, the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA). Progress in GPA implementation is next assessed with an emphasis on the documentation and results from the Second Intergovernmental Review Meeting on Implementation of the GPA held in October 2006. Major challenges constraining GPA implementation are then summarized, including limited national …

Current Legal Developments: International Union For The Conservation Of Nature, David Freestone, Kristina Gjerde, Rosemary Rayfuse, David Vanderzwaag

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The Workshop on High Seas Governance for the 21st Century was held in New York City on 17-19 October 2007. Over 50 leading experts in international marine policy, science, law and economics gathered to explore policy and regulatory options to improve oceans governance beyond areas of national jurisdiction (BANJ), particularly as they relate to the protection and preservation of the marine environment and marine biological diversity. Participants attended in their personal capacity and the Workshop was conducted under Chatham House Rules. Co-chairs of the Workshop were David Freestone, Kristina Gjerde, Rosemary Rayfuse and David VanderZwaag.