Legal protection of the Persian Gulf's marine environment

Marine Policy

Volumn 21, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 53-62

  Mahmoudi, Said ^a  

^a STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY   (Sweden)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMPLIANCE PROBLEM; ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION; MARINE ENVIRONMENT;

PERSIAN GULF;

EID: 0031005254     PISSN: 0308597X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/s0308-597x(96)00047-4     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Even before this law, another law on the prevention of oil pollution had been adopted in 1961. See Yearbook of International Environmental Law, Vol 3, 1992, p 427.
2. The proposal was put forward at a conference in Beirut, Lebanon. See D Momtaz, 'La protection de l'environnement marin du Golfe Persique et de la Mer d'Oman', Collection Espaces et Ressources Maritimes, Edition P.U.F, Paris, No 4, 1990, p 67.
3. UNEP was established through the adoption of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2994 (XXVII) dated 15 December 1972.
4. International Legal Materials, Vol 17, No 3, 1978, p 511.
5. This protocol was adopted simultaneously with the Convention. Ibid, p 526.
6. Adopted on 29 March 1989. Environmental Policy and Law, Vol 19, No 1, 1989, p 32.
7. Adopted on February 21, 1990. W E Burhenne, ed, International Environmental Law, Multilateral Treaties, Vol VII, Kluwer, London, 1993, document 990:14.
8. Adopted on November 2, 1973. International Legal Materials, Vol 12, No 6, 1973, p 1319, and its protocol adopted on 17 February 1978, International Legal Materials, Vol 17, No 3, 1978, p 546.
9. Adopted on November 2, 1973. International Legal Materials, Vol 12, No 6, 1973, p 1319, and its protocol adopted on 17 February 1978, International Legal Materials, Vol 17, No 3, 1978, p 546.
10. For further information, see O Lindén, M Y Abdulraheem, M A Gerges, I Alam, M Behbahani, M A Borhan and L F Al-Kassab, State of marine environment in the ROPME Sea Area, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies, No 112, Rev 1, UNEP, 1990; S H Amin, Marine Pollution in International and Middle Eastern Law, Royston Limited, Glasgow, 1986.
11. For further information, see O Lindén, M Y Abdulraheem, M A Gerges, I Alam, M Behbahani, M A Borhan and L F Al- Kassab, State of marine environment in the ROPME Sea Area, UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies, No 112, Rev 1, UNEP, 1990; S H Amin, Marine Pollution in International and Middle Eastern Law, Royston Limited, Glasgow, 1986.
12. Information are taken from Lindén, passim.
13. Ibid., p 19.
14. Articles IV-VIII.
15. This type of pollution is regulated in the 1990 Protocol on land-based pollution.
16. Article XI provides: a) Each Contracting State shall endeavour to include an assessment of the potential environmental effects in any planning activity entailing projects within its territory, particularly in the coastal areas, which may cause significant risks of pollution in the Sea Area; b) The Contracting States may, in consultation with the secretariat, develop procedures for dissemination of information of the assessment of the activities referred to in paragraph (a) above; c) The Contracting States undertake to develop, individually or jointly, technical and other guidelines in accordance with standard scientific practice to assist the planning of their development projects in such a way as to minimize their harmful impact on the marine environment. In this regard international standards may be used where appropriate.
17. Article IV (2) of the Protocol.
18. Article II of the Protocol.
19. Momtaz, op cit., p 77.
20. Articles V and XII of the Protocol.
21. Article VII of the Protocol.
22. Article XI of the Protocol.
23. Yearbook of International Environmental Law, Vol 5, 1994, p 407.
24. Sporadic rules on this issue can be found in a range of international conventions, but the Kuwait Protocol contains all relevant rules in one single document. Cf. Momtaz, op cit., p 78.
25. Article II of the Protocol.
26. Article IV of the Protocol.
27. During the preparatory work for the Protocol, Iran had expressed the concern that very strict and precise rules for the protection of the marine environment against accidental pollution would have countereffect on the exploitation of the resources of the continental shelf. The inclusion of "economically feasible" in Article II was a compromise with Iran. See, Momtaz, op cit., p 79.
28. Articles VI and VII of the Protocol.
29. Articles X and XII of the Protocol.
30. The discussions within IMO led to the adoption, some six months after the signature of the Kuwait Protocol, of Resolution A 673 (16) on Guidelines and Standards for the Removal of Offshore Installations and Structures on the Continental Shelf and in the Exclusive Economic Zone.
31. In the North Sea, e.g., such dumping can take place only in water of at least 2000 m deep and not less than 150 nautical miles from the nearest land.
32. Article III of the Protocol.
33. Article V(1) of the Protocol provides: The Contracting States in their endeavour not to inhibit the development of new industries, and especially that of small industrial operations, and recognizing the economic and technical difficulties often encountered by such operations in properly treating their effluents individually, undertake to implement, to the extent possible, industrial location planning programmes as outlined in Annex II to this Protocol.
34. Articles VI and VII of the Protocol.
35. Article XI of the Protocol.
36. By the end of December 1994, all the eight littoral States had ratified the Kuwait Convention, the Protocol on Oil Pollution in Cases of Emergency and the Protocol on Pollution resulting from Exploration and Exploitation of the Continental Shelf. The Protocol on Land-Based Pollution by the same date was ratified or acceded to by six States. Iraq and the United Arab Emirates had not yet ratified it. See UNEP: Status of regional agreements negotiated in the framework of the Regional Seas Programme, Rev. 4, December 1994.
37. IMO Doc. MEPC 36/17/1, Annex 2 dated 4 August 1994.
38. The Governing Council of the UNEP normally in its meetings emphasizes the significance of further cooperation between UNEP and the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment. See, for example, UN Doc. UNEP/ GC.18/40, dated 13 June 1995.
39. Yearbook of International Environmental Law, Vol 3, 1992, p 427.
40. Yearbook of International Environmental Law, Vol 4, 1993, p 409.
41. Ibid, p 413.
42. Yearbook of International Environmental Law, Vol 5, 1994, p 405.
43. Information taken from Environmental Protection in Islam, IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper No 20 Rev, IUCN, Gland, Cambridge, 1994.
44. Yearbook of International Environmental Law, Vol 4, 1993, p 405.
45. Information obtained from the General Directorate for Marine Environment, Iranian Organization for the Protection of the Environment, Tehran, 28 March 1996.
46. Articles 192 and 193 of the Convention.
47. Regulation 10 (7) (b) (i)-(iii) of Annex I to MARPOL 73/78.
48. Iran during the 1973 Conference for the adoption of MARPOL expressed doubts whether there was any need to provide reception facilities for tankers entering the Persian Gulf since almost all such tankers would clean their tanks en route, and contain only clean ballast while loading crude oil. According to Iran, there was no need for reception facilities at islands or offshore terminals, and if the establishment of such facilities was insisted upon, it would be enough with facilities only at a few ports. Cf. Amin, op cit., p 35. It should be noted that a great number of oil terminals in the ROPME sea area are offshore.
49. International Legal Materials, Vol 18, No 2, 1979, p 510.
50. Information obtained from IMO's Marine Environment Division, dated 26 April 1996.
51. International Legal Materials, Vol 9, No 1, 1970, p 25.
52. International Legal Materials, Vol 30, No 3, 1991, p 733.
53. IMO Doc. MEPC36/17/1, dated 4 August 1994, p 1.
54. Ibid, p 5.
55. For a detailed account of responses to this oil spill, particularly UNEP's and IMO's activities in this respect, see B Kwiatkowska, Ocean-related impact of Agenda 21 on International Organizations of the United Nations System in follow-up to the Rio Summit, A-Nauimi and Meese, eds, International Legal Issues Arising under the United Nations Decade of International Law, Proceedings of Qatar International Law Conference '94, Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1995, pp 1132-36. For the role of IMO, see also Environmental consequences of the Gulf War, Environmental Policy and Law, Vol 21, No 1, 1991, p 20.
56. For a detailed account of responses to this oil spill, particularly UNEP's and IMO's activities in this respect, see B Kwiatkowska, Ocean-related impact of Agenda 21 on International Organizations of the United Nations System in follow-up to the Rio Summit, A-Nauimi and Meese, eds, International Legal Issues Arising under the United Nations Decade of International Law, Proceedings of Qatar International Law Conference '94, Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1995, pp 1132-36. For the role of IMO, see also Environmental consequences of the Gulf War, Environmental Policy and Law, Vol 21, No 1, 1991, p 20.
57. The international assistance program to combat the effects of the Iraqi oil spill in January 1991 is thoroughly reported in IMO publication, Final Report of the Persian Gulf Oil Pollution Disaster Fund, London, 1993.
58. Among the important steps that have been taken by IOC in collaboration of UNEP and ROPME, mention should be made of summer cruises which have been carried out after the Iraq/Kuwait war, including the Mount Michell Cruise in 1992 and Umitaka-Maru Cruise in 1993, in order to bridge the gaps in knowledge of the oceanography and ecological characteristics of the ROPME Sea Area. See IOC Annual Report Series No.1, 1994, p 51; Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Reports of Governing and Major Subsidiary Bodies, Eighteenth Session, 1995, pp 48-49; Kwiatkowska, op cit, p 1135.
59. Among the important steps that have been taken by IOC in collaboration of UNEP and ROPME, mention should be made of summer cruises which have been carried out after the Iraq/Kuwait war, including the Mount Michell Cruise in 1992 and Umitaka-Maru Cruise in 1993, in order to bridge the gaps in knowledge of the oceanography and ecological characteristics of the ROPME Sea Area. See IOC Annual Report Series No.1, 1994, p 51; Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Reports of Governing and Major Subsidiary Bodies, Eighteenth Session, 1995, pp 48-49; Kwiatkowska, op cit, p 1135.
60. The post-revolution national marine scientific research in Iran started first in 1989, almost one year after the cease-fire between Iran and Iraq. Such research has been more or less limited to those plans which are decided by ROPME with respect to the biological and ecological conditions of the marine environment. The IUCN-inspired project for the establishment of particularly sensitive areas started in 1994. As a counterpart to the IOC/UNEP/ ROPME cruises, Iran carried out its own cruise in the winter of 1994 (Qods Cruise) and in the autumn of 1995 (Ferdos Cruise). Information obtained from the General Directorate for the Marine Environment, Iranian Organization for the Protection of the Environment, Tehran, 28 March 1996.
61. Fereidun Fesharaki, 'Joint development of offshore petroleum resources: the Persian Gulf experience', Energy, Vol 6, 1981, p 1325.