THE UNCLOS AND REGIONAL ACTION FOR PROTECTION OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT: PERSPECTIVES OF THE SOUTH ASIAN SEAS REGION

This article explores how the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) frames marine environmental protection and how those obligations can be operationalised across the South Asian Seas Region. It reviews the legal architecture for preventing pollution from ships, land-based sources and dumping at sea, and explains the relationship between UNCLOS, MARPOL and regional action plans. The discussion highlights institutional challenges common to South Asian littorals: fragmented mandates among maritime, environment and port authorities; limited monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) capacity; and uneven adoption of port reception facilities and oily-water separator standards. It also assesses financing avenues for compliance, ranging from cost-recovery at ports to multilateral climate and environment funds. The paper argues that practical progress depends on harmonised regulations, data-sharing on incidents, and joint exercises that convert legal duties into repeatable operating procedures for inspectors, coast guards and port managers.

The body begins by mapping UNCLOS Part XII obligations and the complementary liability regimes relevant to oil spills and hazardous substances. Section One evaluates national legal transposition in selected South Asian countries, identifying gaps in definitions, penalties and inspector powers that hinder enforcement at sea and in ports. Section Two analyses shipping and port practices: the availability and utilisation of port reception facilities, waste-manifest tracking, and risk-based inspection protocols for substandard ships. Section Three examines land-based pollution pathways—riverine plastics, untreated effluents and agricultural runoff—proposing basin-level controls and pollution-hotspot monitoring linked to satellite observation and community reporting. Section Four outlines a regional cooperation toolkit: a common incident-reporting template, a mutual-aid arrangement for spill response equipment, and joint training curricula for port state control and environmental units. A final section details financing and governance, recommending tariff surcharges earmarked for reception facilities, blended finance for equipment upgrades, and a scorecard that ranks ports by compliance and turnaround times. Together, these measures can translate broad UNCLOS commitments into practical, synchronized action along South Asia’s crowded coasts.