towardsaninternationallawfortheconservationofoffshore（22页）.docVIP

Towards an International Law for the Conservation of Offshore Hydrocarbon Resources within the Continental Shelf? David M. Ong( Introduction The evolution of the modern international law of the sea has been particularly sensitive to, and influenced by, developments in scientific knowledge and technology. An obvious example of this is in the great strides made in offshore drilling and mining techniques that stimulated the development of the legal regime for exploration and exploitation of continental shelf resources, as well as latterly, the deep sea bed mining regime. A more recent influencing trend in the development of the law of the sea is the scientific progress made in assessing the growing threat posed by human activities on the marine environment. This has had the consequential effect of the evolution of marine environmental law, which in turn has as its main concern - the application of sustainable development to human activities within the maritime sphere. This paper examines how far it is possible to argue for the application of the principle of conservation within the international legal framework governing the exploration and exploitation of offshore hydrocarbon resources found within the continental shelves of coastal States. In doing so, it will not chart the general trend towards increasing environmental regulation of the oil and gas industry, but instead focus on how far this general trend, in conjunction with other different but related legal, policy and economic trends can be combined to argue in favour of the conservation of hydrocarbon resources within the continental shelves of coastal States. The Application of the Conservation Principle within the Continental Shelf Regime? The legal difficulties that the thesis posited in this paper needs to overcome cannot be too greatly overstated. Although the conservation principle is now well-accepted and arguably applicable in almost all aspects of the international law of natural resourc