In 1958, the United Nations held its first Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS I), where four conventions were adopted: the Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, Convention on the High Seas, Convention on Fishing and Conservation of Living Resources of the High Seas, and Convention on the Continental Shelf. The environmental protections granted by the protections, however, were weak, and they neither established acomprehensive duty to protect marine environments, nor assigned duties and responsibilities to States to address marine pollution. None of these four conventions came into force.
The second United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS II), which was held in 1960, failed to reach an agreement on the extent of the territorial sea.
The United Nations Third Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) began in 1973 and concluded in 1982. It resulted in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which was signed in 1982 and came into force...
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Brisman, A. (2011). United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_661
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