Bærekraftig utvikling av havområdene i nord. Muligheter og trusler.

The main activity has been two PhD prosjects. The first, "Third State Involvement in the context of establishing the outer limits of the continental shelf" deals with the process where a coastal State delineates the outer limits of the continental shelf where it extends beyond 200 nautical miles from its coastline. Determining the boundaries of the continental shelf is important for the coastal State to exercise its sovereign rights to exploit and explore the natural resources of its continental shelf. The delineation of the outer limits is undertaken in dialogue with an expert commission established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The process may be disputed by other states ? third states ? arguing to have rights in adjacent or overlapping areas of the continental shelf. The objective of the PhD project has been to determine whether and how third states legally may influence the delineation of the outer limits of the continental shelf. The conclusion is that third states have been given an extensive opportunity to influence the process of delineating these outer limits. They may veto the work of the expert commission or challenge the validity of the boundary after the decision by coastal State where the final boundary is fixed.The second PhD project, ?The Ecosystem Approach in International Environmental Law: A Biopolitical Critique? deals with the concept of Ecosystem Approach, which has been introduced to national and international environmental law and governance in recent years, including the integrated management plans adopted for the Norwegian maritime zones. The approach provides a narrative, a policy approach and in some cases legally binding obligations for States to implement what has been called a ?new paradigm? of environmental management. Responding to hopes of arresting, and reversing, the increasingly negative trends of resource depletion and ecological degradation affecting most ecosystems in the world, the ecosystem approach promises to ?protect the environment, maintain healthy ecosystems, preserve biological diversity, and achieve sustainable development?, all at once. The main research question of the PhD project has been whether 'the ecosystem approach' represents a paradigm shift in international environmental law and governance. The ?ecosystem approach? is first located within international law before it is investigated in both scientific and legal terms. The main finding is that it is impossible to identify a singular, well defined ?ecosystem approach?. It is explained through the study of its complex history revealing that it has been developed to respond to diverging and sometimes irreconcilable ideological projects. Two competing narratives emerge as central, one anthropocentric and the other ecosentric. The PhD project further documents that the binary analytical framework used in international legal literature ? anthropocentrism and the other ecosentrism ? are inadequate. The conclusion is supported by two case studies, of international fisheries law and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The project concludes that the ?ecosystem approach? neither represents a paradigm shift nor can it be situated in perfect continuity with legal modernity.The ?ecosystem approach? is caught in is called a biopolitical aporia: On the one hand signaling the potential for a decisive shift in the philosophical commitments of law and on the other the operationalization of a biopolitical framework of control that is in continuity with, and even intensifies, the paradigm of legal modernity.

Prosjektet består av to deler: Integrert forvaltning av havområder og klarlegging av grensene for jurisdiksjonen til kyststaten. Utgangspunktet for prosjektet er den potensielle framtidige utnyttelsen av havområdene i nord, gjennom petroleumsutvinning og skipsfart og utfordringene dette utgjør for miljøet. Dette reiser rettsvitenskapelige forskningsbehov som delvis skal møtes gjennom prosjektet. I det første delprosjektet skal bruken av virkemidlet integrert havforvaltning drøftes, både i nasjonal og inte rnasjonal kontekst. Integrert havforvaltning skal bidra til en sterkere samordning av forvaltningen av ulike aktiviteter som skjer i et havområde. Det andre delprosjektet skal drøfte problemstillinger knyttet til fastsettelsen av yttergrensene for kontine ntalsokkelen. Klarlegging av grensene for jurisdiksjonen til kyststaten er viktig i forhold til spørsmål om adgang til naturressurser og vern av miljøet.