Restoring marine environmental damage: Can the Costa Rica v Nicaragua compensation case influence the BBNJ negotiations?

• Published date: 01 November 2019
• Author: Ronán Long
• Date: 01 November 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12309

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  RECIEL. 2019;28:244–257.

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1 | INTRODUCTION

Perhaps second o nly to human‐indu ced climate change, t he deplor‐

able status of th e ocean is the most urgent environ mental challenge

faced by humanit y.1 Moreover, the protection of the mari ne environ‐

ment is a matter of com mon concern of humankind, in cluding gener‐

ations unborn.2 With nearly un iversal accept ance and with many of

its provisions re flecting cus tomary intern ational law, all States h ave

the fundament al obligation s set forth in the U nited Nations

Convention on the L aw of the Sea (LOSC) to protec t and preserve the

marine environment.3 This extends to both p illars of the general du ty,

namely: the ‘pr otection’ from fu ture damage, alon g with ‘preser va‐

tion’ in the sense of maintaining or improving its present condition.4

To this end, many national a nd intergovernmental bo dies are con‐

tributing to th e complex tasks associated w ith marine environmental

stewardship by strengthening ocean governance arrangements

worldwide.5 International co urts and tri bunals are also wor king to‐

wards the est ablishment of the s table public o rder of the ocean by

fulfilling th eir long‐standing and vital r ole in the peaceful settlem ent

of law of the sea dispute s, including disputes with an env ironmental

dimension.6 The Internat ional Tribunal for the Law of the Se a (ITLOS)

has ruled for ins tance that the conserv ation of the living resource s of

the sea is an eleme nt in the protection an d preservation of th e marine

environment.7 In addition, many of the t asks associated with env iron‐

mental stewar dship have received ne w political imp etus with the

adoption of Sust ainable Devel opment Goal (SDG ) 14 of the United

Nations (UN) 203 0 Agenda for Sus tainable Devel opment,8 calling

amongst othe r matters for the restor ation of coastal and marin e eco‐

systems by 2020.9 More recently, the UN General Assembly has de‐

clared 2021–2030 to be the UN Deca de on Ecosystem Restor ation as

a means among oth er matters to promote t he mainstreaming of r esto‐

ration objec tives into public policy p lans and programmes.10

1 United Natio ns (UN), The Firs t Global Integra ted Marine Asse ssment (Cambridge

Universit y Press 2016) 8, 936.

2 D Shelton, ‘C ommon Concern o f Humanity’ (2 009) 39 Environ ment Policy and L aw 83.

3 United Natio ns Convention on t he Law of the Sea (ad opted 10 Decembe r 1982, entered

into force 16 Novem ber 1994) 1833 UNTS 3 (LOS C) art 192.

4 South China Sea Arbitration (Philippines v China) (Award) (12 Jul y 2016) (PCA Case No

2013‐19) ICGJ 495 para 941.

5 UNGA ‘Oceans a nd the Law of the Sea’ UN Do c A/73/L.35 (29 Nove mber 2018); D Attar d

(ed), The IMLI Treat ise on Global Oc ean Governan ce, Vols I–III (Oxford University Press 2018).

6 B Oxman, ‘Cou rts and Tribunal s: The ICJ, ITLOS, a nd Arbitral Tribu nals’ in D Rothwell et

al (eds), The Oxfo rd Handbook of t he Law of the Sea (Ox ford Univers ity Press 2015) 394 ; C

Romano, ‘Inte rnational Dis pute Settlem ent’ in D Bodans ky, J Brunnée and E Hey (e ds),

Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law (Oxford University Press 2007) 1036.

7 Southern Blu efin Tuna Case (Au stralia v Japan ; New Zealand v Jap an) ITLOS Case No 3

(Order of 27 Augu st 1999) 23 RIAA 1.

8 UNGA ‘Transf orming Our World : The 2030 Agen da for Sustain able Developm ent’ UN

Doc A/RES/7 0/1 (21 October 2015).

9 ibid Target 14.2.

10 UNGA ‘Unit ed Nations Dec ade on Ecosystem R estoration (2 021–2030)’ UN Doc A/

RES/73/284 (6 Marc h 2019).

Received: 11 March 2 019 

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  Revised: 22 July 2019 

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  Accepted: 1 Augus t 2019

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12309

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Restoring marine environmental damage: Can the Costa Rica v

Nicaragua compensation case influence the BBNJ negotiations?

Ronán Long

Correspondence

Email: rl@wmu.se The negotiations of a new inter national legally bind ing instrument und er the United

Nations Convention on th e Law of the Sea on the conse rvation and sust ainable use

of biodiversity beyo nd national jurisdictions are at a c rucial stage. This artic le reviews

the first adjud ication by the Internati onal Court of Just ice of a compensation claim

for environmental damage (Costa Rica v Nicaragua) to see if the case c an influence

the negotiation of provision s in the new instrument on liability a nd compensation, as

well as on the obligation to r estore damaged biodiversity and deg raded ecosystems.

By doing so, the instrument will clos e long‐standing lacunae in the law of the sea and

thereby engender greater marine environmental accountability.

This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Crea tive Commons Attr ibution License, w hich permits use , distribution an d reproduction i n any medium,

provided the o riginal work is prop erly cited.

© 2019 The Authors . Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law Published by John Wiley & So ns Ltd.