Mitigation of Marine Plastic Pollution in International Law

Judith Schäli, Ph.D. (2020), University of Bern, Switzerland, is a lawyer at the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment. She has served as Scientific Advisor to UN Environment on issues related to marine litter and microplastics and has published several book chapters on marine environmental law and governance.

• AcknowledgementsList of Figures and TablesAbbreviationsTable of CasesTable of International Law InstrumentsIntroduction1 Plastics and the Marine Environment1 About Plastic MaterialsA The Nature of Plasticsi. Terms and Definitionsii Additivesiii Economic and Social ConsiderationsB The End of Life of Plastic Materialsi Degradation of Plastic Materials1) Degradation, Biodegradation and Composting2) Degradation Process of Plastic Materials3) Degradation of Plastics in Marine Environments4) Biodegradability Standards and Labelsii Plastic Wastes1) Waste Generation2) Costs and Impacts of Waste and DisposalC Life-cycle Analysis and Impact Assessmentsi The iso Standard Series on lcaii The Life Cycle Initiativeiii. lca s and Plastics2 Plastic Pollution in the SeasA Abundance and Spatial Distributioni Floating Plastic Debrisii Plastic Debris in Beachesiii Plastic Debris on the SeabedB Composition of Marine Plastic DebrisC Main Pollution SourcesD Impacts of Marine Plastic Pollutioni Impact on the Marine Environment and Marine Biodiversityii Economic and Social Impacts3 Summary and Interim Conclusions2 The Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Sources of Plastic Pollution in International Law1 The Global FrameworkA Global Policy, Principles and Conceptsi The Global Policy Framework1) UN Environment’s Role in Policy Formulation and Regulation with Regard to Land-based Sources of Marine Pollution2) The 1992 Rio Conference3) The 1995 Washington Conference and the gpa4) The 2011 Honolulu Strategy: Plastics Coming into Focus5) Plastic Marine Debris as a Raising Concern in Formal UN Processesii Relevant Principles and Concepts1) Sustainable Development2) The Polluter Pays PrincipleConclusion of Section AB The UN Convention on the Law of the Seai Maritime Zones1) Areas under National Jurisdiction2) Areas beyond National Jurisdictionii unclos Part xii: The Protection and Preservation of the Marine Environment1) Definition of Marine Pollution2) General Obligations under unclos Part xii3) Specific Obligations and Their Relevance to Plasticsiii Compliance and Enforcement: The Challenges of Plastics1) The Legal Framework2) The Challenge of Plastics3) unclos Dispute SettlementConclusion of Section BC The Law of the World Trade Organizationi The wto in a Nutshellii Core Principles and Agreements1) The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade2) The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade3) The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measuresiii General Remarks Regarding the Relationship between unclos Part xii and wto Lawiv The Role of wto Law with Regard to Domestic Implementation, Cooperation and Unilateral EnforcementConclusion of Section CD Multilateral Environmental Agreements Relevant to Marine Plastic Pollution Mitigationi The Protection and Preservation of Marine Species and Ecosystems1) The Convention on Biological Diversity2) Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals3) Other Biodiversity-related Conventionsii Waste Management and the Regulation of Wastes and Hazardous Chemicals1) The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal2) The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutantsiii International Watercoursesiv Prevention and Mitigation of Plastic Pollution from Sea-based Sourcesv Climate Change MitigationConclusion of Section D2 Regional SchemesA Overview on the Regional Schemesi The Regional Seas Family1) The Regional Conventions2) Legal Instruments on Land-based Sources of Pollution3) Specific ExamplesB Strengths and Deficienciesi General Effectiveness and Coverage of the Regional Programmesii Pollution Prevention Standards and Environmental Managementiii Institutional Considerations, Reporting and Complianceiv Means of ImplementationC Evaluation: Can Regional Programmes Close the Gaps?3 Implementation at the Subregional and National LevelsA A Typology of Implementing Strategies and Measuresi General Overviewii Implementation at the Subregional Level: The Case of the European UnionB Consistency with wto Lawi Plastics and Tradeii Bans, Taxes and Leviesiii Packaging Regulations and Other Technical Barriers to TradeC Evaluation: Implementation and the Role of Trade LawConclusion and Outlook1 Challenges Related to Plastic Materials, Social Behaviour and Economic Capacities2 Legal Framework and Regulatory ChallengesA Implementation and EnforcementB Regulatory LacunaeC Coherence3 Successes and Way ForwardBibliographyIndex