IMO Institutional Structure and Law-Making Process - Prevention of Pollution of the Marine Environment from Vessels - page 17

Great Barrier Reef, Australia considers its role as a coastal State as vital. Indeed,
Australia has advocated for more robust international regulation for the protection
of the marine environment from vessel-source pollution, having submitted a pro-
posal in 1990 urging MEPC to establish the Great Barrier Reef Particularly Sensi-
tive Sea Area (PSSA) 10 for the introduction of a system of pilotage and mandatory
ship reporting. The Great Barrier Reef PSSA is the first PSSA approved by IMO.

2.2.1.2 Developed, Developing and Least Developed States

Like other international organisations IMO Member States are also deeply divided
into developed, developing and least developed States; a division which has existed
from the very beginning of the organisation. There is an assertion that “the
developed-developing state dynamics underlying much of international discourse
in the 1970s have largely dissipated. The more relevant tussle at IMO today is one
between coastal and port states seeking greater control over foreign ships and
maritime states seeking to uphold the freedom navigation”. 11 In fact the north-
south divide is still a dominating factor in the IMO discourses. The presence of
issues like the implementation of the principle of Common but Differentiated
Responsibilities (CBDR) is more apparent than ever in current IMO discourses.
As will be discussed in Chaps. 5 and 6 dealing with the issue of shipbreaking
industry and reduction of emissions of greenhouses gases from international ship-
ping, there is a serious divide and ongoing conflict between developed and devel-
oping States. This debate is playing a catalyst in profoundly resurfacing relatively
older north-south debates, like the issue of technology transfer and assistance.
Recent negotiations in MEPC, particularly in the context of climate change, show
developed and developing countries are debating with each other as groups. That is
a clear sign of serious north-south divide, like in other areas of international
law-making. However, despite serious interest involved particularly in the areas
of climate change and shipbreaking, least developed countries are not playing an
active role in the debate as a group. For example, the 48 nations comprising the
Least Developed Countries group work together in the intergovernmental negoti-
ations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 12
However, they do not work together in the IMO negotiations relating to climate

10

For definition of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSA) see Chap. 3 .

11

Tan ( 2006 ), p. 74.

12

About the LDC group, http://ldcclimate.wordpress.com/about-the-ldc-group/ > last , accessed on
13 June 2014. These countries are: “Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina
Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti,
Kiribati, Lao People s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mau-

ritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, S˜o Tom´ and Pr´ncipe, Senegal, Sierra
Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Timor Leste, Togo, Tuvalu,
Uganda, Vanuatu, Yemen, and Zambia.” LDC Group at UN climate change negotiations, http://
ldcclimate.wordpress.com/ldc-country-pages/

'