'Global Commons’ refers to resource domains or areas that lie outside of the political reach of any one State, including sea areas beyond national jurisdiction and Antarctica. The concept of ‘global commons’ is a living concept and can accommodate, over time, other commons at the international level, such as biodiversity and generic resources. The outlook for the global marine commons is not encouraging: fishery resources continue to deplete, marine biodiversity continues to reduce, and plastic wastes in the oceans continue to increase. In international law, there are legal regimes governing global marine commons, the most important of which is the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC). Effective as of 1994 LOSC governs the high seas, international seabed and its resources, marine environmental protection, and fisheries. Global Commons and the Law of the Sea offers intellectual discussions on global marine commons. It contains six parts respectively addressing the principle of the common heritage of mankind (CHM), freedoms of high seas, deep sea mining and international seabed, area beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) governance, management of geoengineering and generic resources, and recent developments in the polar regions.

Global commons and the law of the sea : an introduction / Keyuan Zou -- Applying the principle of the common heritage of mankind : an east asian perspective / Seokwoo Lee and Jeong Woo Kim -- The principle of the common heritage of mankind can be applied to marine genetic resources / Yao Huang and Changshun Hu -- U.S. maritime claims and establishment of marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean : a preliminary study of the question concerning possible encroachment of the global commons / Yann- huei Song -- Rethinking high seas fishing freedoms : how high seas duties are catching up / Warwick Gullett and Quentin Hanich -- Evolution of Soviet maritime navigation policy and China's far seas operations / J. Ashley Roach -- Exploring the deep frontier : deep sea mining opportunities and challenges in the Pacific / Clive Schofield -- Deep seabed mining: environmental concerns and improvement of regulations / Julia Guifang Xue and Xiangxin Xu -- The continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles and its superjacent waters : a hybrid legal regime within and beyond national jurisdiction / David M. Ong -- An unfinished agenda : governance of areas beyond national jurisdiction / David Freestone -- Areas beyond national jurisdiction : towards the end of the mediterranean paradox? / Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe -- The international seafood sustainability foundation and high seas fisheries conservation : the potential of private governance for managing public resources in the global commons / Anastasia Telesetsky -- International governance on marine geo-engineering for climate change mitigation / Gi Hoon Hong and Young Joo Lee -- The obligation of due diligence in regulating the marine genetic resources in areas beyond national jurisdiction / Hua Zhang -- The development of the polar code and challenges to its implementation / Zhen Sun and Robert Beckman -- Protecting the commons in the polar south : progress and prospects for marine protected areas in the Antarctic / Karen N. Scott

Vast areas of valuable resources unfettered by legal rights have, for centuries, been the central target of human exploitation and appropriation. The global commons -- Antarctica, the high seas and deep seabed minerals, the atmosphere, and space -- have remained exceptions only because access has been difficult or impossible, and the technology for successful extraction has been lacking. Now, technology has caught up with desire, and management regimes are needed to guide human use of these important resource domains. In The Global Commons, Susan Buck considers the history of human interactions with each of the global commons areas and provides a concise yet thorough account of the evolution of management regimes for each area. She explains historical underpinnings of international law, examines the stakeholders involved, and discusses current policy and problems associated with it. Buck applies key analytical concepts drawn from institutional analysis and regime theory to examine how legal and political concerns have affected the evolution of management regimes for the global commons. She presents in-depth case studies of each of the four regimes, outlining the historical evolution of the commons -- development of interest in exploiting the resource domain; conflicts among nations over the use of the commons; and efforts to design institutions to control access to the domains and to regulate their use -- and concluding with a description of the management regime that eventually emerged from the informal and formal negotiations. The Global Commons provides a clear, useful introduction to the subject that will be of interest to general readers as well as to students in international relations and international environmental law, and in environmental law and policy generally.

This book deals with two areas: Global Commons and Security: inextricably melted together and more relevant than ever in a world which is ever globalized and... with an incognita looming on the horizon: the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic upon the International Relations and globalization. Global Commons have always been relevant. It was Mahan who argued that the first and most obvious light in which the sea presents itself from the political and social point of view, is that of a great highway; or better, perhaps, of a wide common... Nowadays, this view has been further developed and, in addition to the unique legal implications that the Global Commons introduce, they are viewed, more and more intently, as a common pool of resources. Or perhaps, not that common... Resources, the key word! Which has to be always supplemented by two key words: access and security. And still, another one: data, the cyberspace contribution to the equation.

This book investigates competing constructions of areas beyond national jurisdiction, and their role in the creation and articulations of legal principles, providing a broader perspective on the ongoing negotiation at the UN on marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction.

Space policy is now a top priority in international relations. This timely Research Agenda takes the definition of space policy itself as an object of analysis rather than as an unquestioned premise. It presents the multi-faceted spectrum of elements combined within space policy which are crucially relevant to security, welfare and modern society. Expert international contributors set out a forward-looking research agenda for the 2020s, identifying key problems and conflicts related to the topic and exploring policy, regulatory approaches and diplomatic mechanisms to reach possible solutions.

This book analyses he implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the light of state practices of China and Japan. The special character of the book can be found in its structure of comparative analysis of the practices of China and Japan in each part. The focus is on historical aspects (Part I), implementation of the UNCLOS (Part II), navigation (Part III), mid-ocean archipelagos (Part IV), the marine environment (Part V), and dispute settlement (Part VI). By taking this approach, the book elucidates a variety of aspects of history, difficulties, problems, and controversies arising from the implementation of the UNCLOS by the two nations. Furthermore, contributors from China and Japan tend to show different perspectives on the UNCLOS, which, by clarifying the need for further debate, are expected to contribute to the continuing cooperation between the academics of the two states.

This will be the first book to attempt to take a 'holistic' approach to security in the Commons (outer space, the atmosphere, the oceans, cyberspace, etc) in that it examines in detail each domain of the commons, identifying and assessing the current and future threats to free international access to the domain.

"May 2009."--T.p.