Natural Resources

Page 1 of 5

Filter category

Feature post image

The Legal Fight Over Deep-Sea Resources Enters a New and Uncertain Phase

The past month was a flashpoint in the future of deep-sea exploitation – a future inexorably linked to the transition to a decarbonized economy. Deep-sea exploitation is governed by the International Seabed Authority (the ISA), an intergovernmental organization established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The ISA’s authority covers a large swath of the ocean floor known as “the Area,” which UNCLOS Article IX delineates as “the seabed and ocean floor and subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.” The ISA previously adopted regulations for prospecting and exploration of the Area, but despite years of trying, has never finalized a Code for seabed exploitation. Consensus has remained elusive – and now time seems to have run out.

Read more

Preliminary Reflections on the ICJ Decision in the Dispute between Chile and Bolivia Over the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala

Chile and Bolivia, for the past six years, have engaged in a dispute before the International Court of Justice over the waters of the Silala. On 01 December 2022 the Court released its decision. This summary highlights some key facts and the outcome of the case, and raises a number of preliminary questions that the…

Read more

Ashraf Ghani’s ambitions to divert the Helmand River now serve his enemy, the Taliban: an International Law perspective

One tragedy follows another in Afghanistan. Occurring amid many other dramatic events, the diversion of the Helmand (Hirmand) River, which flows through Afghanistan and Iran, by the Taliban in January 2022 was almost lost in the news. This deliberate act can cause huge economic losses, degrade entire ecosystems, and threaten the lives of those dependent upon its waters.

Read more

Germany’s Trusteeship over Gazprom Germania: A Brewing Expropriation Claim?

Background If it were not so serious, it would be funny: In March 2022, the part-time DJ and fledgling YouTuber Dmitry Tseplyaev (purportedly) became the ultimate controller of Gazprom’s gas-distribution network and gas-storage facilities in Germany. The German authorities did not see any humour in this situation. On 4 April 2022, they imposed…

Read more

Splashing down the International Space Station in the Pacific Ocean: Safe Disposal or Trashing the Ocean Commons?

The International Space Station (ISS) is reaching its end of life and will need to be disposed of. NASA plans to do so by de-orbiting the ISS and sinking it into a particular area of the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo (named after Captain Nemo, the famous character in the novel Twenty Thousand Leagues…

Read more