The law and the big blue
The future is blue: The sea covers 70 percent of the planet. Two thirds of the whole Norwegian economic activity and benefits are generated in the sea. In the elective course Law of the Sea and its Uses, students will be given a better understanding of the framework in which these activities take place.
Hovedinnhold
- The value of the seas for our planet is beyond any doubt. More and more of the globe’s economic activity is conducted in the sea. From sea-bed mining to extract rare minerals to food production at a massive scale, the commercial, industrial and regulatory opportunities related to the use of the sea appear almost endless. The importance of sea spaces and its regulation keeps growing as humankind uses more of the world’s resources, says associate professor Ignacio Herrera-Anchustegui.
Associate professor Herrera-Anchustegui is one of the leading reseachers within the field of offshore wind energy, energy law, and EU/EEA law. He is also the coordinator of the elective course Law of the Sea and its uses and currentle lead the Research group for Natural Resource Law, Environmental Law and Development Law.
At this course, students will learn how the sea is governed from a Public International Law perspective, with an emphasis on the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea - known as the sea’s constitution.
From maritime activites to the blue energy
This knowledge will be complemented with an in-depth study on rules related to the organization of maritime activities through the Maritime Spatial Planning & Strategies from a European perspective.
- These Maritime Spatial Planning and Strategies aim at bringing together coordination among the different users of the sea and ensure that activities take place in a safe manner for both humans and the maritime environment. Solid rules on Maritime Spatial Planning & Strategies allow for a reduction of conflicts between users (fisheries vs oil and gas platforms), create new business opportunities (offshore wind), promote investment (blue energy), and protect the environment, Herrera-Anchustegui explains.
Practical lectures, hot topics
The legal knowledge of the sea and its uses will be complemented with interdisciplinary and highly practical lectures on several topics due to their current importance.
- For this year, we will have a special focus on the development of offshore wind activity as an alternative renewable energy source and the regulation of fisheries and their activities.
Open to non-law students
A particularity of this course is that it will also be available and highly useful for non-law students working in fields, such as marine biology, offshore energy, economic geography, oceanography, etc. This approach, quite novel for courses at the law faculty, allows students of other disciplines to become familiar with the regulatory framework in which their main focus of attention operates and understand in which way it influences and defines their own activities.