The Walther Schücking Institute for International Law commemorates its 100th anniversary with a series of academic events throughout the year 2014. An interest in the law of the sea was one reason for founding the Institute in 1914 and research on legal regulation of the oceans is placed high on its research agenda until today.
The workshop offers a platform to identify and discuss the need for action in contemporary “Ocean Governance”. It aims at identifying the problem areas and discussing the solutions in order to develop new approaches for policy makers.
Law of the sea is a discipline that has to be flexible to change and progress. Its governance functions are put to test by the effects of climate change and the rise of new technologies for the exploitation of marine resources, as well as by well known problems such as overfishing. Still, the view prevails that any formal amendment of the Law of the Sea Convention 30 years after its adoption is hardly promising due to the Convention‘s character as a “package deal”. The workshop will thus focus on the following questions: To what extent does the current legal framework offer room for flexibility? Are the steering mechanisms adaptable to new challenges? What effective solutions can the law of the sea offer for the identified problems?
