The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) described as the “constitution of the oceans”, has the ambition to articulate a comprehensive legal order that could settle “all issues relating to the law of the sea”. UNCLOS has been long characterized as a “living treaty”, able to adapt to new challenges unknown at the time of its negotiation. This capacity is now however arguably under increasing pressure due to a range of global threats such as climate change, widespread pollution, technological paradigm shifts such as those related to artificial intelligence, and rising geopolitical and maritime security tensions as the world becomes multipolar.
As to the latter, the threats to shipping and critical undersea cables and infrastructure illustrate how interwoven many problems are, such as those related to maritime security, the marine environment, the safety of life at sea, and digital connectivity. Yet, it is probably the global and rapid environmental and climate change and the attendant pressures on both the physical environment and the normative landscape that are raising the most fundamental questions.
Law of the sea scholars have responded to such pressures by exploring questions such as the fragmentation of the law of the sea and ocean governance and how far UNCLOS can adapt in the face of new challenges, including questions linked to its “constitutional” status.
In the context of the Anthropocene however, the stakes are higher and unprecedented, and the standard means for adapting UNCLOS – interpretation and normative developments – may not be sufficient. The mounting pressures are in fact arguably deep, interrelated and systemic. As such they raise novel and profound questions that arguably require not only novel legal responses but also, and crucially, novel theoretical and methodological approaches and novel legal imaginations. We are perhaps approaching a new “grotian moment”.
Against this background, we invite papers that address any topics related to possible future trajectories of the law of the sea in relation to e.g. novel practices of States that tear at the fabric of the current legal framework; conflicting views on ocean justice and on regulation of ocean commons; global environmental threats; reflections on key concepts and categories underpinning the law of the sea; novel shipping routes and practices, including technological shifts; humans at sea problematics; novel extractive horizons; and novel epistemic provocations. Additionally, we welcome papers that outline new maps of knowledge needs and new theoretical and methodological approaches, with the view of providing the intellectual background through which we can imagine the future trajectories of the law of the sea. Relevant topics include:
The conference will provide an opportunity for academics, practitioners, and policymakers to engage in interdisciplinary dialogue and to contribute to the ongoing debates on the future of law of the sea and ocean governance. In addition, leading experts are invited to give keynote lectures.