Recent News
The rapid deterioration of the world's oceans and the life they contain calls for a breakthrough in their governance, writes Deborah Wright. The seas must be protected, respected and policed as the common heritage of all mankind, and of all generations present and future, and that will require modernizing the Law of the Sea.
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India, with approval from the International Seabed Authority (ISA), will launch exploration of mineral deposits such as polymetallic sulphides off the coast of Mauritius.
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A new report from the International Council on Clean Transportation on air pollution from ships in the high Arctic warns of huge increases in air pollution from shipping.
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President Barack Obama’s new National Security Strategy, released Feb. 6, is an all-encompassing document but one that specifically addresses some maritime issues such as the Asia-Pacific rebalance, air and maritime freedom-of-navigation tensions that have arisen in recent years, the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea, counterpiracy and Arctic access.
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Climate change and the potential for the oil industry and shipping routes have encouraged governments in Beijing and Singapore to look to the Arctic.
[ More ]For thousands of years, ice and harsh conditions have served as a natural barrier between species from the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans in the northern hemisphere. New research, however, shows that large fish populations will soon be able to make the journey northward and defy the barrier between the Atlantic and the Pacific which could have serious consequences for both fisheries and local ecosystems.
[ More ]World governments agreed last week that the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) should be expanded to include a new legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine life in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ).
[ More ]Countries at the UN have agreed to start formal negotiations on a new 'legally binding instrument' to conserve the biological riches of the high seas that cover 45% of planet Earth, and ensure their sustainable use for the benefit of all mankind.
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The Obama administration on Tuesday will announce a proposal to open up coastal waters from Virginia to Georgia for oil and gas drilling, according to a person briefed on the plan. At the same time, in Alaska, the administration will ban drilling in some portions of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, according to the person familiar with the plans, who could not speak publicly about them until the announcement.
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Artur Chilingarov, who until recently was President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy to the Arctic said in a recent speech at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø that cooperation with other Arctic states is an important part of Russia’s Arctic strategy.
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