MARINE CONSERVATION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
OCEAN CONTAMINATION
Daily trauma in the manner of pollution from dumping is inflicted onto the oceans.
Industrial trash, hazardous waste, wastewater, dredging debris make up the majority of the hazardous material that has been discharged into the seas to date. The referred to as runoff pollution, which happens toxins from industrial, nuclear, and other sources, in addition to fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture, are discharged into rivers and eventually find it to the the sea, is another significant problem.
When synthesized plastics such as drinking straws, containers, plastic bottles, as well as throwaway tampon and nappies are carelessly discarded, it results in pollution from plastic through landfill. With plastics making up 80% of all ocean waste and research predicting that by 2050, our waters could have greater quantities of plastic than fish, seas are by far the most extensive landfills for plastics in the entire globe.
Microplastics, which are microscopic particles made of plastic trash, are gradually breaking away. These have the potential to be lethal for marine life when consumed. Microplastics are discovered in human blood, lungs, and placenta in recent research for the initial time; this is an indication that fragments from the world’s widespread pollution with plastic may also be affecting the human body’s systems. According to a 2019 research, based on gender and age, a typical American individual consumes from 39,000 and 52,000 particles of plastic annually. When inhaling is taken into account, the numbers rise to 74,000 and 121,000 respectively.
HOW CAN WE PREVENT OCEAN PLASTIC POLLUTION, AND HOW CAN WE PRESERVE THE OCEAN?
We are at a turning point because, as to the World Meteorological Organization, last year saw record-high instances of rising sea levels rise, ocean warming and acidity, and levels of greenhouse gases. Considering the dire circumstances, it is our responsibility to treat, protect, and maintain the health of our oceans.
The goal of marine conservation is to protect the most significant, bluest, and most aquatic ecosystems on Earth by raising the public’s understanding of the importance of the seas and enacting laws that will prevent contamination by discarding and other damaging activities while also restoring their natural state.
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND MARINE CONSERVATION
While education and training may decrease discarding and other practices that threaten the marine environment, the most effective way to stop it is through international law. In order to do this, the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) has developed regulations that acknowledge, safeguard, maintain, and stop the disposal of plastic in the marine ecosystem. The preamble to UNCLOS, often known as the Ocean Law or Law of the Sea, calls for ocean awareness and states that the issues the ocean faces “are profoundly interconnected and have to be addressed as a totality.”
Articles 192 through 222 of UNCLOS devote themselves to preventing pollution and conservation in the marine environment and fall under Part XII, Section 1, Protection and Preservation of the Marine Environment. In this regard, Article 194 lays out steps for preventing, curtail, and manage contamination of the marine environment. Article 210 provides regulations and laws designed that efficiently avoid the dispersion of them in the maritime environment. More specifically, Article 194 (3) (a) relates to the discharge of poisonous, damaging, or hazardous substances by disposal, which must be avoided, decreased and regulated.
Consent is a notion or concept that underlies international rules like UNCLOS. Thus, even though UNCLOS has developed regulations to uphold, safeguard, maintain, and avoid contamination in the maritime environment, these regulations are just suggestive and not legally obligatory until nations ratify them.
Author-SHREYA POTDAR., a Student of UNIVERSITY NAME-QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.
