The international legal ramifications of regional marine policies.

Abstract

In the area of marine policies a regional approach is fundamental and the move towards holistic regional marine policies is relatively recent. These efforts to promote better integration and co-ordination of marine regulations draw the attention towards the marine environment, its importance and the challenges it faces. This work seeks to present what is being done to address these challenges in land-based and water-based regions. Canada, Australia, the U.S., and the EU are described as land-based regions, and with regard to the first three the discussion focuses on the policies or actions presented. In the latter region, the discussion focuses on a future policy since the European Commission has expressed its intention to move in that direction. On the other hand, the Mediterranean was identified as a water-based region and the discussion focuses on regional efforts through the Mediterranean Action Plan to co-ordinate environmental policies. In the concluding Chapter a brief comparison of the different policies is presented, together with the implications of these regional policies vis-a-vis a possible future international marine policy.