Convention on the Law of the Sea
Global Standards for Protecting the Marine Environment
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — more than 10 years in the making, now 20 years old, and fast approaching universal participation — is perhaps one of the most significant but less recognized twentieth century accomplishments in the arena of international law. It established for the first time one set of rules for the oceans, bringing order to a system fraught with potential conflict. Its scope is vast: It covers all ocean space with all its uses, including navigation and overflight; all uses of all its resources, living and nonliving, on the high seas, on…
