Matters commented on: request for an advisory opinion, ITLOS, COSIS, inter-regime relationships
1 Introduction*
On 12 December 2022, the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (COSIS) submitted a request to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to render an advisory opinion. In its request, COSIS asked ITLOS to clarify ‘the specific obligations of State Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS] […] to prevent, reduce and control pollution of the marine environment in relation to the deleterious effects that result or are likely to result from climate change’ as well as ‘to protect and preserve the marine environment in relation to climate change impacts’ more broadly (Request for an Advisory Opinion).
Matters Commented on: North Atlantic Ocean surface temperature rise, IMO 2020 Sulphur Regulation, IMO GHG Strategy, Climate Change
1. Introduction
In the summer of 2023 exceptional sea surface temperatures were recorded on the North Atlantic Ocean, as a climax of a period of rapid warming that began in spring 2023 (Copernicus Programme, 2023). According to the ‘Copernicus Programme’ (the European Union’s Earth observation programme):
Temperatures in the northeastern Atlantic climbed steadily from the end of May, peaking on 21 June at around 1.6°C above average […]. While absolute temperatures do reach higher values in the region during the summer, the average temperatures observed last month are more typical of later in the summer (Copernicus Programme, 2023).
Graph: Daily sea surface temperature anomaly (°C) averaged over the northeastern Atlantic region during 2023 (black line) and for previous years from 1979 to 2022 (red and blue lines). Data source: ERA5. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF.
Of course, human-caused climate change is the main cause of increased temperatures around the globe, including the North Atlantic Ocean surface. However, the extraordinary and rapid increase in temperature observed in 2023 was likely facilitated by a number of other factors that amplified the effects of climate change.
These likely factors include unusual atmospheric circulation patterns, broader tropical warming involving the transition to El Niño conditions, the presence of Saharan Dust, wild fire smoke from Canada, and the effects of the Hunga-Tonga volcano eruption, as well as one likely factor that stands out as of particular importance in the context of the law of the sea (Hausfather and Forster, 2023). This is a relevant regulation of shipping, specifically the reduction of sulphur emissions from ships, following the implementation of the relevant International Maritime Organization (IMO) Regulation on sulphur emissions (Voosen, 2023, Hausfather and Forster, 2023).
In June this year, the Norwegian Parliament adopted the Climate Act. In short, the Act establishes under domestic law Norway’s objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The emissions covered by the Act are emissions and sinks reported by Norway under the Paris Agreement. The objectives of the Act are to reduce, by 40% by 2030 and by 80-95% by 2050, greenhouse gas emissions to the level of the reference year 1990. The Act is not unique; UK, Denmark and Finland have adopted similar statutes.
A yearly reporting obligation on meeting these objectives is included in the Act. These ambitious objectives call for consistent strategies from general to more specific goals, across sectors and policy areas: Arild Underdal, “Integrated Marine Policy: What? Why? How?” (1980). Marine Policy 159. By strategies, I mean the overall plans including measures and tools to meet these objectives. Even though the Act is recent and will not enter into force until 2018, the political objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not new. This post examines whether strategies to meet these objectives are already in place or could be facilitated through relevant marine resource management tools.
Chronicle written in connection with the 9th Arctic Frontiers conference “Climate and energy”, Tromsø 2015.
Are you dreaming about romantic walks along the beaches of the Maldives? A private bungalow with a staircase straight down into the warm ocean, where tiny, colourful fishes swim around the poles which support the bungalow? Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t wait too long!
This week, for the ninth time, the Arctic Frontiers conference takes place in Tromsø, Norway. The conference is a unique forum which brings academia, government and business together to create a firmer foundation for decision-making and sustainable economic development in the Arctic. The theme of this years’ conference is “Climate and energy”, and the background for the chosen theme is that the Arctic experiences the impacts of climate change more and faster than other parts of the globe. I do not disagree with that. The impacts of climate change may be more evident in the high north, with wetter and wilder weather and melting sea- and land ice.
The most severe and immediate consequences are however found in the south. A number of Small Island States are in danger of being flooded and disappear, like a modern Atlantis.
