Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
through coastal states' territorial seas and exclusive economic zones largely in
the same way as on the high sea; they have the right of innocent passage,
although there are a number of conditions applicable to this form of passage.
No state can subject the high seas to their sovereignty and everyone has equal
rights to use the natural resources found there. Similar international 'freedom
areas' include international airspace, which extends to the skies superjacent to
the outer limit of states' territorial seas, and outer space.
States, their ships, businesses and citizens have extensive freedom to operate
in international common areas. The only limitation is that the area must be
used without causing unreasonable harm to the interests and rights of other
states and their ships. This has made it diffi cult to protect the high seas.
The greatest concerns relating to the high seas today include the overhar-
vesting of discrete high seas' fi sh stocks - such as certain mackerel species - and
the depletion of biological diversity. Few states have any motivation to limit
overfi shing, and the weakening of fi sh stocks has been discussed in the UN
General Assembly many times with little progress.
Another kind of arrangement for common areas was negotiated in Chapter
XI of the Convention on the Law of the Sea and amended by a special
implementation agreement in 1994. Non-living resources (mostly minerals)
in or on the seabed in the area beyond the outer continental shelves of states
were declared the 'common heritage of humanity'. The International Seabed
Authority (ISA) was established to administer these resources and to be in
charge of environmental protection of this area. To date, there has been no
commercial exploitation of these resources, largely because of economic
factors, though some preparatory activities have taken place.
The 1979 Moon Treaty had a similar objective when exploitation of
resources became topical: the Moon was similarly declared the common herit-
age of humanity. The Moon Treaty entered into force in 1984, but it has no
practical relevance as few states ratifi ed it and the major states engaged in space
exploration have not become party to it.
Tragedy of the commons
Garrett Hardin launched the term 'tragedy of the commons' in Science magazine
in 1968. The term 'commons' referred to those areas freely used by everyone
(the use of which cannot be limited). It is particularly applicable to the high seas.
Hardin used the example of a pasture where herders graze their cattle. As long
as there are few grazers, there is no problem. The capacity of the pasture or the
common resource decreases when new herders enter it.
Hardin showed that in such a case, it is reasonable for one herder to use the
pasture as much as possible: to take all that he or she can and not to consider the
impact on other users. When every herder tries to exploit the pasture as fully
as possible, the quality of that pasture will at some point deteriorate. The end
result is that the pasture is no longer fi t for anyone to use. In this way, reasonable
decisions taken by an individual can lead to a miserable end for the community.
 
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