UNITED NATIONS BLUE ECONOMY CONFERENCE 2018 SIDE EVENT – UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF AN INCLUSIVE ECONOMY: THE GENDER AND CAPACITY IMPERATIVES 28 NOVEMBER 2018 Topic: Capacity Building Needs on Implementing the Law of the Sea Convention Specific Focus: The challenges of implementing and enforcing the provisions of the UNCLOS from a Pacific Perspective. Presented by: Everett Sioa Introduction: • Introductory Remarks: o Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great honour and pleasure for me to discuss on “the capac ity building needs of implementing and enforcing the law of the sea convention.” To be more specific on this discussion, I will focus on the challenge of unpacking and implementing the provisions of the United Nation Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) from a Pacific perspective. • Current Marine and Biodiversity Issues in the Pacific Region o Marine biodiversity in the South Pacific is threatened by over-fishing, marine pollution and destruction of marine and coastal habitat, including coral reefs and mangroves. Freshwater ecosystems have been affected by over-extraction and pollution. The islands of the South Pacific are particularly vulnerable to the predicted effects of climate change, including coral bleaching, rising sea level, altered rainfall patterns and extreme weather events. Concerted national, regional and international effort is require to halt the decline in biodiversity in the region and to mitigate the biodiversity impacts of climate change. • The importance of international law in the Pacific Region o In recent decades, environmental protection has become a matter of regional concern, with significant development in regional and international cooperation to promote biodiversity conservation and environmental protection. o International Law plays a significant role in the South Pacific. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) establishes legal order for the oceans and seas, including to promote the equitable and efficient utilization of their resources, the conservation of their living resources, and the study, protection and preservation of the marine environment. The Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) have championed the protection and restoration of the health, productivity, and resilience of the ocean and the marine environment as a whole. o However, the capacity of national governments to participate in the development and implementation of international and regional agreements has been limited by a range of factors, including the availability of financial, technical and human resources. Resource limitations have resulted in significant gaps in environmental law and policy, together with significant difficulties in relation to implementation and enforcement of these laws and policies. • The role of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in addressing Capacity Building Needs o SDG 14 (Target 14.c) talks about enhancing the conservation and sustainable use of oceans and their resources by implementing international law as reflected in UNCLOS. The national governments of the Pacific Region cannot successfully implement and enforce the provisions of UNCLOS if the capacity to carry them out is greatly limited by a range of factors. o While some States have acquired experience in interpreting and applying UNCLOS, we are now facing new challenges that requires capacity building needs.
o Fortunately, SDG 17 (Target 17.9) talks about enhancing international support to implement effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support and implement all the sustainable development goals. o Addressing capacity development needs is an essential building block of successful sustainable development, to ensure that the States are able fully implement UNCLOS and other related instruments. Challenges of Implementing and Enforcing UNCLOS in the Pacific Region: • Ineffective Implementation of International Law o The first and foremost problem that states in the Pacific face in the implementation of multilateral environmental agreemens is absence of an effective and comprehensive legal framework or its incoherence. o Now as you may know already, all State parties to a convention have responsibility to ensure that their national laws allow them to fulfill their obligation under that convention. For example, Article 207 of UNCLOS requires States to adopt law and regulation to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment land-based sources. o Most countries in the Pacific Region have enacted national legislations in relation to environmental protection. However, most countries in the region have not enacted comprehensive environmental legislation, resulting in a fragmented approach to marine and biodiversity conservation. In most cases, existing law do not comprehensively address the obligations of state parties under international biodiversity agreements. o Common Problems of Implementing International Law includes: ▪ Gaps and Omission for Particular Sectors (such as Waste Management) or Processes (such as Environmental Impact Assessment); ▪ Statutory Law in conflict with customary law, resulting in one law on paper and another law in practice; and ▪ Inadequate institutions to administer, implement and enforce the law. o There is demand from many countries in the region to modernize their environmental legal regimes. For most countries, this process is difficult as they lack local expertise and have limited to comparative information and experience. The task requires both knowledge of the state of the art in environmental legislation and a thorough understanding of the needs and legal situation of the particular country. • Lack of Enforcement: o While an adequate legal framework is necessary for effective environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, it will be insufficient unless there are adequate institutions to implement and enforce the legal principles and administrative policies established by that legal framework. o Effective enforcement of environmental legislation is contingent upon the availability of adequate staff and financial resources, the political will of the enforcement agencies and the level of public awareness of environmental legislations. o Although most countries in the South Pacific have enacted legislation in accordance with the provisions of UNCLOS, there is a lack of enforcement or implementation of many policies or legislation. o Controlling IUU fishing and pollution from vessels (such as oil tankers, cargo ships) continues to be problematic in the Pacific Region, due to the enormous resources required to effectively monitor these activities in the open ocean. o Another issue is that development activities are routinely under-regulated by national governments in the South Pacific. In many cases, resource development is actively promoted in the interests of economic growth and national development. In cases where environmental protection and conservation have a relatively low priority in countries where people suffer from relative
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