A Regime Lost at Sea : Critical Reflections on the UNCLOS Conservation Regime and the Future of Marine Biodiversity Protection

With depletion of the oceans through overfishing and other anthropogenic and other activities, law seems incapable of adequately protecting marine biodiversity. Through green legal theory, this Chapter demonstrates the entanglement of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea’s marine conservation framework with economic growth and begins reflecting on how to move past the limitations of this framework to build better rules for the protection of marine life. Part II offers a summary of green legal theory and its applicability to the law of the sea context. Part III analyses the current law of the sea regime regarding conservation of marine life through a green theory lens. Part IV concludes the Chapter by looking forward and thinking through means of reimagining the regime through strategic revolution, focusing on the future implementing agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction