Geological Resource Planning and Environmental Impact Assessments Based on GIS

The purpose is to study the geological resource planning and environmental impact assessments based on the geographic information system (GIS). In this study, the land resources of Yinan County in southeastern Shandong Province are taken as the research object. Based on a GIS, the current situation of land resource development is analyzed, land resource planning is carried out, and environmental impact mitigation measures are evaluated and analyzed through the environmental impact. The results obtained depict the distribution of cultivated land; the development area is 1617.31 hm2, of which 577.32 hm2 is cultivated land, 30.43 hm2 is garden land, 399.66 hm2 is forest land, 40.87 hm2 is urban and rural construction land, 10.11 hm2 is traffic water conservancy and other construction land, and 558.92 hm2 is natural reserve land. In the layout of the construction land, the development area is 841.94 hm2, of which 175.44 hm2 is cultivated land, 47.88 hm2 is garden land, 100.54 hm2 is forest land, 0.1 hm2 is other agricultural land, 90.45 hm2 is urban and rural construction land, 3.66 hm2 is traffic water conservancy and other construction land, 11.33 hm2 is water area, and 412.54 hm2 is natural reserve land. The impact of the implementation of planning on most indicators is positive and beneficial, while the impact of negative indicators is relatively small. It is revealed that the implementation of the plan has little impact on most of the ecological environment indicators. Construction and cultivated land development further improve the level of urbanization. In the process of planning implementation, corresponding measures should be taken to slow down or eliminate the negative development of the ecological environment.

The Contribution of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to the Protection of the Marine Environment

In its 25 years’ history, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has dealt with a number of environmental cases. This has primarily occurred in the context of proceedings relating to the prescription of provisional measures and in advisory proceedings. This article explains how the Tribunal has reaffirmed and developed the basic environmental principles in Part XII of the Law of the Sea Convention, including the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment, the precautionary approach, the duty to conduct environmental impact assessments, and the duty to cooperate, as well as the duty of due diligence, thereby contributing to the protection of the marine environment. Part XII of the Convention is a product of the 1970s and its provisions therefore reflect the state of international environmental law at that time. However, the Tribunal has interpreted and applied the aforementioned principles consistently with the contemporary state of international environmental law.

Implementing the Duty to Cooperate under the 1982 UNCLOS for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in Areas beyond National Jurisdiction under a New BBNJ Agreement

This article examines the duty to cooperate under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in relation to the obligations of States to protect and preserve the marine environment and in relation to the protection of the marine environment in areas beyond national jurisdiction. It demonstrates that the new Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement plays an important role in creating the necessary mechanisms for cooperation, thereby fulfilling the multiple obligations that States have under UNCLOS to cooperate regarding the protection and preservation of areas beyond national jurisdiction. Additionally, the BBNJ Agreement provides an important opportunity for States to effectively operationalize the UNCLOS provisions for marine scientific research, as well as the development and transfer of marine technology and capacity building. This article further analyses the duty to cooperate in relation to area-based management tools and environmental impact assessments, which are also key components of a broad framework of global cooperation under the BBNJ Agreement.

Development and Economy in Mongolia through a Human Rights Law Lens

This article studies the Mongolian economic and development policies implemented in recent years until March 2020, including its revenue matrix sustainability, from an international human rights law perspective. Policy and legal recommendations for discussion are also presented. Based on a United Nations mission the author conducted to Mongolia in 2019, this country study examines the macroeconomic policies, including debt issues, from a human rights perspective; the extent to which mineral rents are translated into inclusive and comprehensive social and environmental policies, focusing on the mining project Oyu Tolgoi; the impact of illicit financial flows on human rights; and the effects of lending for infrastructure and mining projects and other foreign direct investments. The study concludes that economic diversification and conducting effective gender-sensitive, participatory human rights and environmental impact assessments of economic reforms and mining and infrastructure projects are the main challenges Mongolia faces.

Environmental impact assessments in areas beyond national jurisdiction

<p>A state that wishes to proceed with an activity or development has an obligation to undertake an assessment of the risks that activity will have on the environment. This obligation has been generally accepted in domestic and international law, and is often conducted in domestic and trans boundary areas. However, the application of the obligation in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction has been fragmented, with many activities and areas not being assessed. This paper looks at the international obligation to conduct an EIA in areas beyond national jurisdiction, and discusses the possibility of the development of an implementation agreement that would enhance and specify the requirement to conduct an EIA in areas beyond national jurisdiction.</p>

Environmental impact assessments in areas beyond national jurisdiction

<p>A state that wishes to proceed with an activity or development has an obligation to undertake an assessment of the risks that activity will have on the environment. This obligation has been generally accepted in domestic and international law, and is often conducted in domestic and trans boundary areas. However, the application of the obligation in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction has been fragmented, with many activities and areas not being assessed. This paper looks at the international obligation to conduct an EIA in areas beyond national jurisdiction, and discusses the possibility of the development of an implementation agreement that would enhance and specify the requirement to conduct an EIA in areas beyond national jurisdiction.</p>

Unity or Fragmentation in the Deep Blue: Choices in Institutional Design for Marine Biological Diversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction

Delegations are in the final stages of negotiating the proposed Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement or Agreement). The Agreement will have tremendous scope. Geographically it covers all ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction, meaning approximately 60 percent of the earth’s surface. Substantively it deals with a range of complex topics necessary for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, including marine genetic resources, sharing of benefits, measures such as area-based management tools, including marine protected areas, environmental impact assessments and capacity-building and the transfer of marine technology. Existing scholarship primarily explores the substantive choices for the Agreement; little examines its proposed institutional structure. This article critically assesses the competing positions advanced during negotiations for the Agreement’s institutional structure – the ‘global’ and ‘regional’ positions – and reviews the middle, or ‘compromise’ position adopted by the draft text. It suggests that both global and regional actors will be necessary to conserve and sustainably use marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and that some form of coordinating mechanism is required to allocate responsibility for particular tasks. Two principles are proposed for use in combination to provide a mechanism to help coordinate Agreement organs (global) and regional or sectoral bodies, namely, the principles of subsidiarity and cooperation. These principles are found in existing international and regional structures but are advanced here in dynamic forms, allowing for temporary or quasi-permanent allocation of competences, which can change or evolve over time. This position is also grounded in the international law of treaties and furthers dynamic views of regional and global ocean governance by offering practical coordinating principles that work with the existing Agreement text.