Characteristics and trends of integrated ocean management under the framework of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

As the international community place high value on the ocean,protecting the marine environment and promoting the sustainable development of the ocean have become the consensus of all countries around the world.Integrated ocean management,as an important part of the ocean governance mechanism within the framework of the United Nations,have approached to the scene view of human gradually.Taking the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as the framework,the current international integrated ocean management is summarized and the future development trend of ocean management is analyzed,providing reference for China to build a maritime power and a maritime community with shared future.

Economic stability analysis of blue carbon cooperation in the South China sea region using evolutionary game model with Weber's law

The political environment of the South China Sea Region(SCSR)has gradually stabilized,such that regional cooperation in the preservation of marine resources seems realistic.Blue carbon international cooperation is an important solution to the problem of global warming,which has a large number of economic and political attributes.As a region that has incredibly abundant blue carbon resources,further cooperation among SCSR governments would present the opportunity to establish meaningful economic and environmental protections that would promote peaceful blue carbon development of this region.To examine the feasibility of such an undertaking,we leverage the imitator's dynamic game as a research method and introduce Weber's law to examine the subjective psychological factors(i.e.,biases)of participants in qualifying the economic stability of blue carbon cooperation in the SCSR.The results suggest that the economic stability of blue carbon cooperation correlates to Weber's coefficient and the income produced by the different strategies.Based on these findings,we discussed policy recommendations to promote the sustainable economic development of SCSR.

Violation of the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution,Bucharest’s Convention of 1992 and the Sofia Protocol of 2018 by Turkish Government’s Sinop Nuclear Power Complex Project

On September 12th,2020,the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning issued a final approved version of an EIA(Environmental Impact Assessment)report for the Sinop(4,800 MWe)nuclear power plant and nuclear fuel fabrication complex project,located on Turkey’s Southern Black Sea coastline,in the Sinop Providence,which will be built on a BOO(Build-Own-Operate)basis by an offshore company known as General Directorate of Electricity Generation Inc.(EUAS)International ICC,along with unknown shadowy partners and investors.This project violates the Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution,namely,Bucharest’s Convention of 1992,and the Sofia Protocol of 2018 which are established to preserve the uniqueness of the Black Sea,sustain the fisheries,and protect marine life.The Black Sea is the largest anoxic water basin in the world with oxygen rich surface waters supporting marine life which constitute only about 13% of the Black Sea volume.For the rest of the entire Black Sea at a depth greater than 150-200 m,there is a permanent hydrogen sulphide zone devoid of life,the oxygen is completely absent after this level.This unique bio-hydrological characteristic has been regulating the preconditions of its following distinctive biodiversity for thousands of years.The biologically rich regions are only limited to only oxygen rich shelf zones,with depths of up to 50-100 m in the southern coast line,and in the northern Black Sea shallow-water areas with depths of up to 5-10 m.This water body,bordering the hydrogen sulphide zone,is approximately 200-300 m wide and averages 5-50 m deep,in which high concentrations of fish eggs and larvae strive,and circulate counterclockwise along 4340 km coastline of the Black Sea.

Modernization of International Humanitarian Law——The Origins and Evolution of the 1977 Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions

Regional wars and internal armed conflicts after the conclusion of the 1949 geneva conventions have presented new challenges to traditional international humanitarian law? To address those challenges, the international community concluded two additional protocols in 1977 to the 1949 geneva conventions? Those two protocols have unified the Hague Rules and the geneva Rules in the realm of traditional laws on wars, improved the protection of civilians,expanded the concept of armed conflicts and combatants, and developed special treaties applicable to non-international armed conflicts,reaffirming and developing the principles and rules of international humanitarian law worldwide, and promoting its modernization?

From mandatory icebreaker guiding to a permission regime: changes to the new Russian legislation of the Northern Sea Route

This article focuses on two issues. The first concerns definitions of the Northern Sea Route （NSR） in old and new Russian legislation, and the second relates to Russian rules on icebreaker guiding. Based on a comprehensive comparative analysis of relevant Russian legal provisions enacted in 2013 and previous laws in this area, we offer the following conclusions. （1） Our legal analysis indicates that Russia＇s view of the NSR as a historical national transportation route has not changed. However, the new law redefines the scope and coverage of the NSR, which now comprises the internal waters, territorial sea, adjacent zone, and the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation. In fact, the new law resolves previous ambiguity regarding extension of the NSR boundary to the high seas. （2） Based on an analysis of the new rules on icebreaker guiding, the article concludes that NSR is transitioning from a mandatory icebreaker guiding regime into a permit regime. This is particularly evident in its provision of a concrete, practical, and predictable clause on permissible or impermissible conditions relating to independent navigation. According to the new rules, it is possible for foreign ships to undertake independent navigation in the NSR. The Russian NSR policy, therefore, appears to have changed significantly, and has future potential for opening the NSR up to the international community.

Evaluation of natural gas hydrate resources in the South China Sea using a new genetic analogy method

Natural gas hydrate(NGH)has attracted much attention as a new alternative energy globally.However,evaluations of global NGH resources in the past few decades have casted a decreasing trend,where the estimate as of today is less than one ten-thousandth of the estimate forty years ago.The NGH researches in China started relatively late,but achievements have been made in the South China Sea(SCS)in the past two decades.Thirty-five studies had been carried out to evaluate NGH resource,and results showed a flat trend,ranging from 60 to 90 billion tons of oil equivalent,which was 2-3 times of the evaluation results of technical recoverable oil and gas resources in the SCS.The big difference is that the previous 35 group of NGH resource evaluations for the SCS only refers to the prospective gas resource with low grade level and high uncertainty,which cannot be used to guide exploration or researches on development strategies.Based on the analogy with the genetic mechanism of conventional oil and gas resources,this study adopts the newly proposed genetic method and geological analogy method to evaluate the NGH resource.Results show that the conventional oil and gas resources are 346.29×10^(8)t,the volume of NGH and free dynamic field are 25.19×10^(4)km^(3) and(2.05-2.48)×10^(6)km^(3),and the total amount of in-situ NGH resources in the SCS is about(4.47-6.02)×10^(12)m^(3).It is considered that the resource of hydrate should not exceed that of conventional oil and gas,so it is 30 times lower than the previous estimate.This study provides a more reliable geological basis for further NGH exploration and development.

Size Distribution of Submarine Landslides Along the Middle Continental Slope of the East China Sea

This paper investigates the size distribution of submarine landslides on the middle continental slope of the East China Sea (ECS) using the size of the landslide source regions. Geomorphometric mapping is used to identify 102 mass movements from multibeam bathymetric data and to extract morphological information about the head scarps and side walls. These mass movements have areas ranging between 0.06 km2 and 15.51 km2 and volumes between 0.002 km3 and 2 km3. The area vs volume relationship of these failure scarps is approximately linear, suggesting a fairly uniform failure thickness in each event with scarce deep excavating landslides. The cumulative area distribution of the slope failures can be described by an inverse power law. The submarine landslides on the mid-ECS continental slope could be considered as a large-scale self-organizing system because they have the characteristics of a dissipative system in a critical state.

Oceans and the Law of the Sea Report of the Secretary-General

(Seventy-third session,Item 78(a)of the provisional agenda,Oceans and the law of the sea,5 September 2018)Summary The present report,which covers the period from 1 September 2017 to 31 August 2018,is submitted pursuant to paragraph 366 of General Assembly resolution 72/73,in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to prepare a report on developments and issues relating to ocean affairs and the law of the sea,including the implementation of that resolution,for consideration at its seventy-third session.

The “Transcendental” Interpretation of the Concept of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind: The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Its Implementation in China

The concept of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind provides new theoretical support for the special protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is innovative in terms of its purposes and principles, logic and technology, and the actual implementation of the contracting parties, which is unique in the field of international human rights law. It is a "transcendental" interpretation of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and enhances the ethical values of international human rights law. The development of the cause of persons with disabilities in China is positively influenced by the values reflected in the concept of a community of shared Future for mankind and meanwhile highlights them, which provides "Chinese experiences" for the international cause of persons with disabilities.

The Influence of Seawater on a Coastal Aquifer in an International Protected Area,Goksu Delta Turkey

G?ksu Delta is an important wetland where the G?ksu River reaches the sea in the eastern part of the town of Tasucu-Ice1. The delta is classified as a Wetland of International Importance according to the Ramsar Convention. In the G?ksu Delta area, urban and agricultural expansions have caused an ever-growing need for fresh water. High groundwater pumping rates and overexploitation of the aquifers, leading to seawater mixing in the G?ksu coastal aquifers. The chemical types of groundwater from alluvial aquifer are Ca-Mg-HCO3, but in the region where sea water mixing is occurred it changes and the Na and Cl ions are added to groundwater. The similar occurrence can be observed in the groundwater from the limestone aquifer. The chemical types of groundwater are Ca-HCO3 or Ca-Mg-HCO3 and they change to Ca-Na-Mg-HCO3-Cl in the vicinity of seawater mixing regions. A statistical comparative analysis also shows that some of the samples are affected by sea water mixing. The extent of seawater intrusion is reflected by the distribution of salinity and electrical conductivity as an equiconcentration map.

The Formulation of Convention on the Rights of Older Persons:The Process and Prospects

Since its establishment,the United nations open-ended Working group on aging has shouldered the historical mission of exploring the“possibilities”and even laying the“foundation”for a Convention on the Rights of older Persons.Although the formulation of a convention on the protection of the rights of older persons has been widely supported by the general public and many countries,it still faces many problems.China should adhere to the combination of“human rights”and“development”and adjust its policies to adapt to the new changes in related fields.With successful case studies,concise expression of rights,and regional contracting practice,China could participate more fully in the reform of the international mechanism for the protection of the rights of older persons to improve the voice in future international human rights governance and make greater contributions to the protection of the rights of older persons worldwide.

Bio-Piracy on the High Seas? Benefit Sharing from Marine Genetic Resource Exploitation in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction

Transnational benefit sharing from the exploitation of Marine Genetic Resources’ (MGR’s) in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) presents a unique problem in international law. Proposals to govern MGR’s in ABNJ include leaving them unregulated, governance under the International Seabed Authority (ISA) or the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) or implementing a new international regime. This paper demonstrates that a hybrid solution for MGR governance?under the ISA which is modeled on the CBD and The Nagoya Protocol (Nagoya), provides the most adroit solution to the problem of equal benefit and access to MGR’s for all States. This solution ensures adequate conservation of MGR’s, meanwhile fostering sustainable exploitation and maintaining equality in access, biodiversity and the sharing of financial and technological benefits amongst the internationalcommunity. Further, examining benefit sharing from bioprospecting under the CBD and Nagoya provides a foundation for a benefit-sharing regime in ABNJ under The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Examining the CBD, Nagoya and UNCLOS demonstrates how benefits arising from exploitation of MGR’s in the high seas and deep bed should be included as a mandate of the ISA. This methodology is accomplished by focusing on bioprospecting for MGR’s and how the CBD and Nagoya facilitate access to the resource while ensuring that the host State or community benefits from granting access. As the CBD and Nagoya focus on benefit sharing in light of national sovereignty, and UNCLOS regulates in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the ISA is perfectly placed to adopt the principles of the CBD and Nagoya and provide a mechanism to ensure that MGR’s in ABNJ are adequately conserved and the benefits arising from their exploitation equitably shared.

The San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Problems Regarding Japan’s Exemption from Blame for the Colonization of Korea

The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty was the one and only international opportunity that would have allowed demanding for Japan’s responsibility of the colonization of Korea.However,the United States did not demand of such to be done.Soon,Korea and Japan resumed their diplomatic relationship and had their first summit in 1952.After numerous negotiations,finally in 1965,the“Korea-Japan Treaty”was agreed upon.Even in this treaty,the interpretation of the colonization was different for both countries and ultimately resulted as an unresolved issue.This is because of the Japanese dependence to the San Francisco Peace Treaty.On the other hand,the League of Nations,founded in 1920,believed that the systematization of international law was vital to keeping international peace.Therefore,they put much effort in and successfully carried out the codification of international law.The“Report on the law of Treaties”which was completed in 1935,noted that the“1905 Protectorate Treaty”,which was the ultimate treaty that led to Korea being annexed by the Japanese,was one of the three treaties that had no effective standing.This decision was carried out to the International Law Commission of the United Nations in 1963 and became a Resolution after being submitted to the General Assembly in the end of the same year.Using the decisions of the League of Nations and the United Nations as evidence,this paper critically reviews the San Francisco Peace Treaty’s lack of reviewing the Japanese responsibility of the colonization of Korea.

The Treaty of San Francisco From the Perspective of International Peace Movements in Early Twentieth-Century America

The leaders of the Meiji Restoration believed in their master, Yoshida Shoin （吉田松陰）, who claimed that in order for the islands of Japan not to be a colony of the powerful Western states, Japan had to conquer nearby countries. This led to Japan’s invasion of the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria, which ultimately led to the Manchurian Incident of 1931, the Sino-Japanese War, and the Pacific War. Surprisingly, the subject and the timing of each and every one of these acts of war were in the same order of Yoshida Shoin’s proposal on preoccupancy. The Sino-Japanese war of 1894 was romanticized as clearing the barbaric culture by civilization, and the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 was romanticized as the realization of Eastern Peace. However, Japanese policies of aggressions were first deemed illegal by international law during the 1931 Manchurian Incident by the investigations of the League of Nations. The Japanese Empire received the recommendation by the League of Nations to restore to original state, but declined and exited from the League of Nations. Following their exit, they started the Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War and eventually lost in 1945. The goal of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 was to punish Japan’s aggressions. However, as the Cold War between the East and the West started to arise in 1948, the punishment was eased, and their punishment for the aggressions on the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, and Korea was nearly unasked for. This paper examines the issues of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in the views of the international law of the League of Nations, established by Manley O. Hudson of Harvard University and others in U.S. academia and judiciary.

A Brief Analysis of the Applicability of the Archipelago Waters System in China

The archipelagic waters system is stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is closely related to China＇s marine legislation and maritime law enforcement. It is not only related to the integrity of our country＇s national sovereignty, but also to the maintenance of our maritime rights and interests. However, there is no comprehensive fundamental law governing the overall situation of marine development in our country, also no relevant legal code on the archipelagic waters system. Therefore, we should learn from the world＇s marine legislation and practice which the archipelagic waters system was written into China＇s marine legislation.

Changes in Tropical Cyclone Number in the Western North Pacific in a Warming Environment as Implied by Classical Thermodynamics

Observational analyses show that the equatorial trough in the western North Pacific (WNP) is a well-known origin for tropical cyclones (TC) which have tended to weaken in intensity and decrease in number during the last several decades under global warming. A scientific problem then arises as to why higher sea surface temperatures (SSTs), one of the necessary conditions for typhoon genesis, can cause a weakened equatorial trough and a decreased TC number. In this paper, the WNP is taken as an example to illustrate a possible mechanism for the above-mentioned seemingly counterintuitive phenomena and explain the causality between the unusually heterogeneous pattern of SSTs in a warming environment and TC number in the WNP. This mechanism is based substantially on the second law of thermodynamics.

Dynamical Correction of Control Laws for Marine Ships’ Accurate Steering

The objective of this work is the analytical synthesis problem for marine vehicles autopilots design. Despite numerous known methods for a solution, the mentioned problem is very complicated due to the presence of an extensive population of certain dynamical conditions, requirements and restrictions, which must be satisfied by the appropriate choice of a steering control law. The aim of this paper is to simplify the procedure of the synthesis, providing accurate steering with desirable dynamics of the control system. The approach proposed here is based on the usage of a special unified multipurpose control law structure that allows decoupling a synthesis into simpler particular optimization problems. In particular, this structure includes a dynamical corrector to support the desirable features for the vehicle＇s motion under the action of sea wave disturbances. As a result, a specialized new method for the corrector design is proposed to provide an accurate steering or a trade-off between accurate steering and economical steering of the ship. This method guaranties a certain flexibility of the control law with respect to an actual environment of the sailing;its corresponding turning can be realized in real time onboard.

A Study on China＇s Marine Rights and Interests and Their Maintenance

Marine rights and interests is an important part of national sovereignty, it is also an important part of national interests. At present, the maritime economy and coastline security of China is facing some new situation and challenges. In view of the strategic significance and maritime situation of ocean development, it needs to work out a feasible ocean strategy of China from the need of safeguarding the interests of the whole country urgently. We must establish the maintenance strategies of China＇s marine rights and interests in order to realize the sustainable development of marine fights and interests.

Quantifying and Simplifying the 1997 UNWC’s Guidelines to Mitigate Hegemony in Transboundary Watercourse Negotiations

The 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UNWC) contains a negotiation framework for transboundary water rights. However, it is a subjective document open to a wide range of possibilities and interpretations. Water Rights Allocations (WRAs) as described by Dinar and Nigatu (2013) and Dinar and Tsur (2017) provide a limited number of quantifiable allocation possibilities based on the UNWC. It is suggested that this methodology streamlines the negotiation process and reduces the effects of hydro hegemony. These methodologies are explored and applied through a case study on the Orontes River Basin.

Study on Development Law of Complex Fluvial Reservoir under Water

The Bozhong oilfield (Hereinafter referred to as BZ oilfield) is a typical representative of complex fluvial reservoirs in the Bohai Sea, located in the southern Bohai Sea, with an average porosity of 30.3% and an average permeability of 643 × 10-3 μm2, belonging to medium high porosity and permeability reservoir, the reservoir has good connectivity, and the average underground crude oil viscosity is 5 mPa·s. There are many plane fault blocks, and the longitudinal oil well section is long, so the oil-water relationship is very complex. With the further development of the oilfield, the vertical and horizontal oil-water movement law, residual oil distribution and potential are unclear, resulting in rapid bottom water coning, unbalanced injection and production in the oilfield, and increasingly prominent contradictions among layers, planes and layers in the oilfield. Through numerical simulation analysis and comparison of displacement law and recovery degree under different influence conditions, this paper studies the development effect of actual sand body under different influence conditions such as different well types, different development methods and well layout positions, and takes appropriate development methods for the oilfield, which is of great significance to improve the development effect of the oilfield.