Abstract
The maintenance of the biological diversity is important for many reasons. Marine and coastal systems provide important food sources, and may also be of significance to the medical and chemical industry. The biological diversity has also a more ethical and moral value. It is important to protect the biological diversity on earth because it may be essential to get knowledge of the existence of a certain species. The protection of the biological diversity is moreover important to maintain its potentials to meet the needs of future generations. The most significant threats to the marine biological diversity are represented by marine pollution from different sources and from over-fishing or over-exploitation of marine living resources. Fishing has serious impacts on the biological diversity, and the project will concentrate on the regulation of this activity. The biological diversity is defined in the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. The definition of biodiversity is centered upon variation within and between species. The holistic approach to both marine and terrestrial ecosystems is expressed in the latest environmental agreements such as the Rio Declaration and the Convention on Biological Diversity. These international agreements and processes recognize the importance of ecosystem management and establish obligations for conservation and sustainable use of the biological diversity. The project will first discuss the global obligations concerning the management and conservation of the marine biodiversity. Important treaties here are the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity and International Fishery Treaties. The first issue that is addressed in the thesis is therefore a more precise analysis of the contents of the obligations of the states concerning the management of the marine biological diversity. The project will also examine regional agreements and establish the obligations and principles concerning the marine biodiversity on this level. The thesis is geographically limited to the areas outside Norway - the North East Atlantic and the North Sea. One question here is how the regional agreements both environmental arrangements and agreements concerning fishing, regulate the management and conservation of the marine biodiversity. The project will also examine the relationship between the international and regional agreements. An important issue here is how the regional arrangements and agreements can function. After having discussed the legal obligations both on a global and a regional lever it is possible that one also will examine how the obligations concerning fisheries management and management of biological diversity are implemented on a national level.
Norway