The Law of the Sea and Climate Change

Our oceans are suffering under the impacts of climate change. Despite the critical role that oceans play in climate regulation, international climate law and the law of the sea are developed as two different, largely separate, legal regimes. The main objective of this book is to assess how the law of the sea can be interpreted, developed and applied to support the objectives of the United Nations Climate Regime. By identifying the potential and constraints of the law of the sea regime in supporting and complementing the climate regime in the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, this book offers a new perspective on the law of the sea and its capacity to evolve to respond to systemic challenges, and its potential to adapt and ensure a resilient and sustainable future.

Elise Johansen is an Associate Professor at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea at UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø. She has published extensively on international law of the sea, environmental- and climate law. She teaches courses in the law of the sea in Norway and the US. Johansen is currently leading one of NCLOS's five main research programmes.

Signe Veierud Busch is an Associate Professor at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea at UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø. Her primary research interests are dispute settlement, maritime limits and climate change. Drawing on her research experience and results, she is currently leading a research programme with the purpose of rethinking the spatial architecture of the law of the sea and ocean governance.

Ingvild Ulrikke Jakobsen is Professor at the Norwegian Centre for the Law of the Sea at UiT the Arctic University of Norway. Jakobsen has published extensively within international and national environmental law, the law of the sea and ocean governance. She has broad experience in leading and collaborating in interdisiplinary research projects and has acted as Vice Dean of Research at the Faculty of Law, UiT for several years.