Policy and Legal Framework and the Current Status of Ballast Water Management Requirements - Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management: Issues and Solutions - page 61

One of the most important, if not the most important, international legal framework
to regulate uses of the world oceans and seas is the 1982 UN Convention on the Law
of the Sea (UNCLOS) which defi nes the contamination of the marine environment
as the direct or indirect human-mediated introduction of harmful substances or
energy into the marine environment, which endangers live creatures, entails a risk to
human health and impediments to marine activities, including fi shing, and deterio-
rates the quality of sea water (UNCLOS 1982 ). 3 UNCLOS defi nes the obligations
of all states concerning the protection and preservation of the marine environment
by preventing its contamination, protecting and preserving rare and fragile ecologi-
cal systems as well as preventing various sources of contamination from destroying
plant and animal habitats. 4 Furthermore, it addresses the obligations of states
concerning the implementation of all measures necessary for the prevention, reduc-
tion and control of environmental pollution from intentional and unintentional
introductions of alien and new species to a particular part of the marine environment
which may lead to harmful changes. Cooperation is one core mechanism in
UNCLOS, especially for the management of enclosed and semi-enclosed seas as
well as for research (Suarez de Vivero and Rodriguez Mateos 2002 ; Hewitt et al.
2009 ; Pavliha and Martinez Gutierrez 2010 ).
The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted during the UN
Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (CBD 1992 ). The
contracting parties shall preserve indigenous animal and plant species and improve
their living conditions. 5 The CBD consists of 27 key principles to provide guidance
for the future development of national and international law and decision making
and actions to achieve socio-economic development and environmental protection.
Among these 27 principles are (McConnell 2002 ):

- The Prevention Principle;

- The Precautionary Principle; and

- The Polluter-Pays Principle.

In CBD Article 8(h) parties to the Convention are called “as far as possible and
as appropriate, (to) prevent the introduction of, control or eradicate those alien
species which threaten ecosystems, habitats or species”. As adopted in 2002,
Decision VI/23 and Guiding Principles describe a “three-stage hierarchical
approach” to address invasive alien species (IAS): (1) prevention of IAS introduc-
tions as the fi rst line of defence, (2) early detection and rapid response action in
cases when prevention fails, (3) eradication as the preferred IAS management
option, and containment and long-term control measures as the last option, i.e.
should eradication proof to be impossible. The Conference of the Parties (COP)10
of CBD (meeting held in Nagoya, 2010) adopted, for the Strategic Plan 2011-2020,
the Aichi target 9: “By 2020, invasive alien species and pathways are identifi ed and
prioritized, priority species are controlled or eradicated, and measures are in place

3 UNCLOS, Offi cial Journal of SFRY - MP, no. 1/86, Article 1, Point 4.
4 UNCLOS, Articles 192 and 194. Article 1, Point 4.
5 Offi cial Journal of RS, no. 30/96. Convention on Biological Diversity.