The London Convention and London Protocol are the two main international treaties of global application addressing the protection of the marine environment from pollution caused by the dumping of wastes and other matter into the sea. This article describes how the treaties were developed and adopted, explores their relationship with the overarching 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOsC) and examines how the treaties are administered to implement their vision of `two instruments, one family'. The article also highlights the ground-breaking steps the London Convention and London Protocol have taken to address new threats to the ocean, which include regulating new climate change mitigation technologies that have the potential to cause harm to the marine environment.

The introduction to this special issue of nineteen short articles, a result of a conference hosted at the World Maritime University (WMU) in October 2022 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Stockholm Declaration and London Convention. The conference was co-organised by the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) under the title `Protecting the Ocean- Moving Forward at 50: London Convention and Stockholm Declaration'. The articles in this special issue contextualise these instruments and practice across international environmental law, the law of the sea, and maritime law that descends from them (Part 1); interrogate their allocation of liability and responsibility for protecting the marine environment (Part 2); consider their incorporation of plural sources of knowledge (Part 3); and highlight their instantiation of, and potential to change, relations of international political economy (Part 4).

Central to the achievement of the transformational vision and ambitions of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (Ocean Decade) is human behavioral change. Fundamentally, these changes must embrace equality, diversity, inclusivity, accountability, and transparency. The Ocean Decade offers an unprecedented opportunity to fast-track gender equality and the empowerment of women in ocean science at all levels, and to achieve it by 2030. This means embedding gender equality as a cross-cutting principle in the planning, implementation, and application of ocean science. The Programme on Empowering Women for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development directly addresses current gender inequality in both the production and use of ocean science knowledge in the Ocean Decade, with a particular focus on ocean governance systems that conduct, coordinate, and apply ocean science. The Programme aims to collect baseline data on gender balance, investigate barriers and challenges women face in career progression, and identify good practices to enhance women's participation in ocean science at all levels. Ultimately the research seeks to provide solutions to overcome such challenges and catalyze actions to achieve gender equality that will drive the Ocean Decade toward its goals.

AbstractThe International Maritime Organization (IMO) is the ‘competent international organization’ mandated to create a regulatory framework for all aspects of international shipping. The lawmaking process within the IMO is undertaken by member states, with the technical and expert assistance of national and international organizations, civil societies, and shipping industries. The regulations adopted under the auspices of the IMO are a mixture of binding conventions and protocols, and non-binding codes and recommendations. This chapter discusses the lawmaking process at the IMO in relation to the compliance mechanism that evolved through various stages of informal law, and gradually consolidated into formal law. It explores the rationale and advantages of informal law in the context of international shipping regulations, discusses the role of different stakeholders at play in the informal lawmaking process, and analyses the interaction between informal lawmaking and formal treaty law developed under the auspices of the IMO.

Since the 1950s, there has been an increase of women participating in oceangoing science. However, the number of women scientists in the field remains significantly less than that of men, especially in senior roles. In this commentary, we take a feminist perspective to understand the challenges women face in pursuing a career in ocean-going science. Based on the limited literature and reports of women in ocean-going research, we identified several cultural and structural barriers and constraints faced by women. These fell into four main categories: (1) behavioral/social norms and gender-biased culture in science and at sea; (2) failure to provide for balancing duties of family care with extended periods away from home; (3) gender-insensitive design of ship facilities, operations, and personal protective equipment (PPE); and (4) the need for a safe working environment at sea; i.e., gender-related aspects of health, safety, and personal security at sea. To overcome these barriers, the following interventions are suggested: (1) greater awareness raising and training to shift destructive mindsets as well as affecting behavioral and cultural change; (2) consideration of gender-sensitive design and safe operation of research vessels; and (3) more comprehensive and effective implementation of gender equality policies for research at sea.

Evidence-based forecasting and estimation indicate that Arctic shipping will grow in volume and diversify over the coming years, and associated challenges need to be met without compromising too much either the growing demand for shipping or the sustainability of the Arctic environment. Various initiatives have been put forward by the shipping industry, States and international regulatory bodies to reduce the negative impact of the use of marine fuels on the marine environment in the Arctic. This article examines the current regulatory regime concerning use of marine fuels in the Arctic; discusses how to apply legal principles and approaches to close regulatory gaps and harmonise existing efforts to prevent, reduce and control marine pollution from fuel use; and analyses the underlining architecture for designing a regulatory regime, from a technical perspective, for the use of marine fuels by Arctic shipping.

This article summarizes and discusses the main issues addressed at two events hosted at the World Maritime University–Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute in Malmö, Sweden in the first half of 2019. The first event was the International Workshop on bbnj: Toward Development of a Balanced, Effective and Universal International Agreement on 7 February, co-sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan, and the second event was the 43rd colp Annual Conference on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction: Intractable Challenges & Potential Solutions co-hosted with the Center for Oceans Law and Policy (colp), University of Virginia School of Law and The Nippon Foundation. The two events covered topics including marine genetic resources – access and benefit sharing, area-based management tools including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments, capacity building and transfer of technology, cross-cutting issues, and Arctic concerns.

The use and carriage of heavy fuel oil (HFO) as fuel by vessels in Arctic waters present unique challenges to the fragile marine environment and vulnerable Arctic -communities. Discussions on the regulation of HFO use in Arctic waters have undergone several transformations, from strong resistance by several states before and during the negotiations of the Polar Code, to stalemate, to reluctant evaluation of options, before the emergence of a potential mandatory ban. An HFO ban is expected to be adopted by the International Maritime Organization in 2021 at the earliest. This article examines the formation, development and application of the ban on HFO use by vessels in Arctic waters, and discusses the potential effectiveness of the ban.

This article discusses legal mechanisms for the protection of cable ships engaged in operations for submarine telecommunication cables. It argues that all states should legislate to provide that the interference with cable ships engaged in cable operations, done willfully or through culpable negligence, should be a punishable offense.