Marine Pollution Monitoring Systems under International law and the Northeast Asia: Lessons from the Barcelona Convention and Protocols

Résumé En

The marine environment of Northeast Asia is becoming increasingly critical. Beyond the Japanese government's decision to marine discharge of contaminated water from Fukushima nuclear power plant, there are many other marine environmental issues, such as pollution in the Yellow Sea and Marine Plastic Pollution. Nonetheless, Northeast Asia still lacks a legal framework to systematically implement marine environmental cooperation. International environmental law and the Law of the Sea establish the principle in the prevention of the marine pollution and the duty to cooperate. An important tool for achieving these two obligations is marine pollution monitoring. The obligation to monitor marine pollution is stipulated in Articles 204 and 205 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Furthermore, several Regional Sea Conventions provide for it. Among these, the Barcelona Convention and Protocols, a regional agreement for the protection of the marine environment of the Mediterranean Sea, is regarded as a commendable implementation of a marine pollution monitoring system. Particularly, the Mediterranean Sea bears numerous resemblances to the Northeast Asian ocean. It is geographically a semi-enclosed sea and has a complex geopolitical situation between littoral countries. Hence, this paper scrutinizes the marine pollution monitoring system mandated by the Barcelona Convention and Protocol and proposes legal implications for the Northeast Asia seas.