Coastal Zone and Marine Areas Management
| Author | Winston Anderson |
| Pages | 317-356 |
Page 317
14. Coastal Zone and Marine
Areas Management
The management of coastal and ma rine
areas is of increasing importa nce in the
Caribbea n.1 In many countries the coasta l
and ma rine areas of the state a re several hund red
times the size of the land area.2 ey also con-
tain more than half the population3 and make
an increasingly critical contribution to the eco-
nomic and social development of the country.4
Much of coastal and marine regulation has been
designed to preser ve coastal ecology by prohibit-
ing or restricting activities likely to compromise
environmenta l integrit y.
Regulated activities encompass several compet-
ing uses, for example, tourism, recreation, residen-
tial use, industr y, sheries, energy production, and
agriculture. Management systems are being devel-
oped to deal with the challenges posed by land
development on the coast as well as maritime uses.
Some of these challenges include coastal deteriora-
tion caused by rapidly expanding levels of beach
tourism; growing urbanization of coastlands; the
impact of residential a nd industria l pollution;
and maritime pollution, overshing, coastal reef
destruction, and loss of habitat for sea turtles.
Background
ere are three main sources of legal control of
coastal and ma rine areas, namely, legislation, the
1. See generally W A, T L C
M P, ch. 1 (Kluwer Law International 1997).
2. In Barbados, for example, the Exclusive Economic Zone of
167,000 km2 is approximately 388 times its land area of 430 km2;
see United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America
and the Caribbean (UNECLAC), LC/G/1685 (Nov. 23, 1992).
3. See Minister of State, Towards a National Policy on Ocean and
Coastal Zone Management, Government of Jamaica Green Paper
(Nov. 8, 2001).
4. See generally United Nations Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC), LC/G/1685 (Nov.
23, 1992).
common law, and international law. An under-
standing of terms and denitions is also essentia l
to understanding this a rea of law.
Legislative Regulation
Legislative regulation exhibits several notewor-
thy characteristics. First, ma nagement systems
are given eect under a multiplicity of legal
frameworks, which are genera lly geared toward
mediating the eects of unsustainable use. ese
fragmentary regulatory systems carry out ma nage-
ment on an ad hoc basis, primarily in response to
specic problems, notably, beach erosion caused by
sand-mining, construction activities, or coral reef
destruction. In one jurisdiction empirical research
has suggested that an estimated 21 diverse pieces
of legislation relate to coastal zone management.5
Typically, the applicable statutes fall under cer-
tain well-dened rubrics, such as the following:
Beach Protection Act; Town and Country Plan-
ning Act; Loca l Improvements Act; Property Act;
Marine Areas (Preservation and Protection) Act;
Harbours Act; Port Authority Act; Public Health
Act; Waste Mana gement Act; Litter Act; National
Conservation Act; Watersheds Protection Act;
Water Resources Act; Forest Act; Wildlife Pro-
tection Act; Endangered Species Protection Act;
National Trust Act; Fisheries Act; Territorial Sea
Act; Maritime Areas Act; Oil Pollution Prevention
Act; Dumping at Sea Act; and the Shipping Act.
Frequently, t here is a lack of lega l mechanisms for
ensuring the sucient coordination and applica-
tion of these sources of regulation within coast-
related areas.
5. K A, R C R L
B, Coastal Conservation Project Unit Report (Mar.
1987).
Page 318 Principles of Caribbean Environmental Law
Second, weak nesses in the traditional approach
have led to the adoption of regulation in national
framework environmental legislation as a compo-
nent within a comprehensive environmental strat-
egy for the entire country. Here there is a merger
with the nat ional framework-type environmental
legislation that currently dominates Caribbea n
environmental law. Some countries have developed
a National Policy on Ocean and Coastal Zone
Management, which explains and coordinates the
components of the legal framework.6 A few coun-
tries have gone further to introduce independent or
stand-alone coa stal zone management legislation,7
although such a development remains highly con-
troversial on the grounds that the ecological unity
of essentially small island states makes these legisla-
tive regimes impractical.
e legislative regulatory systems are principally
based on the preventive and precautionary princi-
ples, and only secondarily on remedial approaches.
Whereas t he early legislation contained mainly
prohibitions and penalties, more recent statutes
focus on est ablishing preventive regimes by refer-
ence, for example, to the conduct of scientic stud-
ies and reviews; the development of management
plans; licensing arrangements; and institution
building. In most cases this preference is evident
from the nature a nd components of the regime; in
some instances it is expressly stated.8
The Common Law
Management systems based on modern legisla-
tive developments must interact with common law
rights of private landowners a nd other indiv iduals
who possess land in the coastal zone. at such
rights are frequently protected by the constitution
raises the issue to a greater level of signicance and
complexity.
In ancient Roma n law coastal areas were con-
sidered as belonging to all men; for example, in
the Justinian Institutes it is stated that by the law of
nature the air, running water, sea, a nd the shores
6. See Minister of State, Towards a National Policy on Ocean and
Coastal Zone Management, Government of Jamaica Green Paper
(Nov. 8, 2001).
7. See, e.g., Coastal Zone Management Act, No. 39 (1998) (Barb.);
Coastal Zone Management Act, No. 5 (1998) (Belize).
8. See, e.g., Environmental Protection Act, No. 11, §4 (1996)
(Guy.); see also Fisheries Act (Jam.). Note, however, that the
act is not yet in force, though passage was promised in 2007,
See John Myers, Gleaner Editors’ Forum—New Fisheries Act for
2007, J G (Nov. 6, 2008); and again in 2008, see
Peter Espeut, Combating Overshing, J G (May
21, 2008).
of the sea are common to mankind.9 is philoso-
phy is reected in existing common law notions,
notwithstanding the increasingly preva lent regula-
tory regime t hat citiz ens have common rights for
navigation and shing. ese notions, inextricably
bound with the origins of t he public trust of U.S.
law,10 continue to have important implications for
the scope and eectiveness of the matrix of legisla-
tive interventions that characterize coastal manage-
ment in the Caribbean.
International Law
Legislative arrangements converge with signicant
elements of the international law of the sea (a matter
treated separately below). However, other aspects of
international environmental law are a lso engaged,
not lea st of a ll climate change and adaptation to
sea-level rise. Ea rly legislation on beach protection
regulating sand-mining from the foreshore did not,
but t he 1968 Coast Protection Act of e Ba ha-
mas11 specically provides for the protection of the
coast aga inst erosion and encroachment by t he sea
by undertaking “coast protection work.” Modern
legislation on coastal and marine areas enjoys a nat-
ural synergy with international eorts to encourage
adaptation to climate change, especia lly in small-
island developing and low-lying states.
Caribbean Law Institute Centre
e legislative interventions owe much of their ori-
gin and orientation to the Caribbean Law Institute
and its successor, the Caribbean Law Institute Cen-
tre, which in turn was sponsored and supported
by developmental pa rtners in the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID). e Insti-
tutional Strengthening Project for Coastal Zone
Management in Barbados, funded by the Inter-
American Development Ba nk, was completed in
199212 with the contribution of two legal research-
ers attached to the Caribbean Law Institute and the
center.
As a result of that work, the Organization of
American States commissioned a report by the
Caribbean Law Institute Centre, Integrated Coastal
9. See Justinian Institutes, lib II, title 1 [1].
10. See infra ch. 7.
11. No. 37 (1968) (Bah.).
12. See W S, I S P
(F R—S ), prepared for the Coastal Conserva-
tion Project Unit, Ministry of Labour, Consumer Aairs & the
Environment, Government of Barbados (Apr. 1992).
Coastal Zone and Marine Areas Management Page 319
Zone Management and Legislation in the Anglo-
phone Caribbean, which was presented in 1998.13
e report was inuenced by a United Nations
Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (UNECLAC) study entitled e Protec-
tion and Management of Oceans, Seas and Coastal
Areas Under the Tlatelolco Platform on Environ-
ment and Development: A Practical Analysis of Its
Implications.14
e development of specic law and legislation
on coastal conser vation and management,15 as well
as of a national policy on ocean and coa stal zone
management,16 and the policy discussions in the
various countries often reected these pioneering
eorts. e UNECL AC study of 1992 and an aca-
demic work dedicated to the explication of the law
relevant to marine pollution in the Caribbean17
may also have had some eect.
International Law of the Sea
An important feature of Caribbean management of
coastal and marine areas involves the relationship
between these systems and the international law of
the sea. National legislation should, obviously, con-
form to the rules and principles that bind states in
their international relations concerning maritime
matters, and it is commonplace to nd provisions
expressly subjecting national rules to the law of the
sea. Several conventions are relevant, and the more
generic rules of them have been so widely accepted
in the international community that they can be
regarded as customar y international law.18
Law of the Sea Convention
e most important international law instrument
is undoubtedly the 1982 United Nations Conven-
tion on the Law of the Sea (LOSC),19 which con-
tains rules both on the denition and jurisdiction
applicable to the major maritime zones recognized
13. A, C W, C L I
C, I C Z M L-
A C, Report commissioned
by the Organization of American States (Feb. 1998).
14. UNECLAC, T P M O,
S C A U T P
E D: A P A
I I, LC/G/1685 (Nov. 23, 1992).
15. See, e.g., Coastal Zone Management Act, No. 39 (1998) (Barb.);
and Coastal Zone Management Act, No. 5 (1998) (Belize).
16. For Jamaica, see supra note 3.
17. A, supra note .
18. Id., esp. at 49-51.
19. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Dec. 10, 1982, 1833 U.N.T.S.
3; 21 I.L.M. 1261 (1982).
in contemporary international law, as well as rules
on functional uses of the sea such as pollution, sh-
ing, and navigation. e LOSC has been accepted
by all Caribbean states, and many of its provisions
are widely accepted as embodying customary rules.
Convention on Caribbean Sea
Another source of international law is represented
by several regional treaties that have been adopted
in respect of the Caribbean Sea.20 e 1983 Carta-
gena Convention on the Protection and Develop-
ment of the Wider Caribbean Region21 (hereinafter
Cartagena Convention) is a framework agreement
with broad rules on environmental enhancement
and the prohibition of marine pollution, including
rules on pollution from ships, dumping, land-based
sources, sea-bed activities, and airborne sources.
ere are also rules on specially protected areas,
liability and compensation for pollution damage,
and cooperation in pollution emergencies.
e convention has been supplemented by the
adoption of three secondary inst ruments: the Pro-
tocol Concerning Co-operation in Combating Oil
Spills in the Wider Caribbean Region22; the 1990
Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas
and Wildlife (hereinafter the SPAW Protocol)23;
and Protocol Concerning Land-Based Sources of
Marine Pollution (hereinafter LBS Protocol).24
International Maritime Organization
Conventions
e framework rules in the LOSC and the 1983
Carta gena Convention are supplemented by mul-
tiple conventions conta ining more detailed rules
on the fu nctional issues, which have t hemselves
been accepted by an increasingly signic ant
majority of Caribbean states. Some of these con-
ventions are the 1973 I nternational Convention
for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships,25 as
20. See A, supra note 1; see also supra chs. 5, 8, and 9.
21. Convention for the Protection & Development of the Marine
Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region, Mar. 24, 1983,
1506 U.N.T.S. 157; 22 I.L.M. 221 (1983).
22. Protocol Concerning Co-operation in Combating Oil Spills in
the Wider Caribbean Region, Mar. 24, 1983, 22 I.L.M. 240
(1983).
23. Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas & Wildlife in the
Wider Caribbean Region, Jan. 18, 1990, 1 Y.B. I’ E.
L. 441 (1990).
24. A, supra note 1, at 319; Protocol Concerning Pollution
from Land-Based Sources & Activities, Oct. 6, 1999 (entered
into force Aug. 13, 2010).
25. International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from
Ships, Nov. 2, 1973, 1340 U.N.T.S. 184; 12 I.L.M. 1319
To continue reading
Request your trial