Description

The legal rules governing liability for environmental harm in maritime areas beyond national jurisdiction have often been bracketed or placed outside the boundaries of the more familiar terrain of inter-state liability rules and practices. The development of liability rules addressing areas beyond national jurisdiction remains unfinished business despite both Principle 13 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and Article 235 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) calling on states to further develop international law on liability and compensation for adverse effects of environmental damage caused to areas beyond national jurisdiction. The need for such rules is arguably more pressing than ever given the increased intensity of ongoing economic activities in these areas, the emergence of new environmental risks from novel activities such as deep seabed mining and marine geo-engineering, coupled with the cumulative impacts of marine debris, overfishing and climate change.

In their recent book published by Cambridge University Press in 2023 on Liability for Environmental Harm to the Global Commons, Neil Craik, Tara Davenport and Ruth Mackenzie examine emerging and prospective international legal rules addressing liability for environmental harm to areas beyond national jurisdiction. By exploring the constituent elements of liability regimes such as the definition and valuation of environmental damage; the allocation of liability; the standard of liability; standing to bring claims; access to remedies; insurance and compensation funds and how these elements have been implemented in existing legal regimes in the deep seabed, the Antarctic and the high seas, the book highlights key challenges for states in devising effecting liability regimes and outlines possible ways forward.

Come join us for a Panel Discussion on the main findings of the book featuring the authors, with comments from renowned climate change and oceans law experts!