International Governance of the Arctic Marine Environment

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Lilly Weidemann

   Pages 1-3

3. Environmental Situation in the Arctic

   • Lilly Weidemann

   Pages 5-41

4. International Governance of the Arctic Marine Environment

   • Lilly Weidemann

   Pages 43-195

5. Possible Ways for Enhancement

   • Lilly Weidemann

   Pages 197-225

6. Summary

   • Lilly Weidemann

   Pages 227-232

7. Back Matter

   Pages 233-251

   PDF

The Arctic is particularly affected by climate change; over the past few decades, temperatures in this area have risen twice as fast as the mean global rate. The most prominent effect of global climate change in the region is the melting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, which enables a multitude of ocean uses to be initiated and extended, such as shipping, fishing and oil and gas extraction. Unlike in the Antarctic, there is currently no single comprehensive legal regime for governance of the Arctic. Instead, the region is regulated by a patchwork of international treaties, above all the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), various regional and sub-regional agreements, national laws and soft-law agreements. This treatise provides an evaluation of the governance regime that regulates the use of the Arctic marine environment and its readiness to protect these fragile ecosystems in light of the consequences of climate change.

• Arctic
• Arctic marine environment
• Climate Change
• Consequences of climate change
• High Seas
• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)
• Climate change management

• International Max Planck Research School for Maritime Affairs, Hamburg, Germany

  Lilly Weidemann

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