Carbon Sequestration and Ocean Governance: Emerging Challenges between Traditional Sovereign Rights and the Need for Global Regulation

Climate change has been demonstrably provoked by the high presence of carbon dioxide in both the atmosphere and oceans. Such effects might be mitigated by facilitating carbon sequestration at sea. Among the mitigation measures of such effects that scientists have so far suggested, ocean fertilization and the injection of carbon dioxide into the ocean floor seem to be the most popular and apparently effective instruments. However, the performance of these measures raises two different problems that need to be resolved by international law. On the one hand, State control is required over these human interventions. In this regard, some control may be exercised by coastal States when these mitigation interventions are carried out in the maritime areas falling under their jurisdiction. Such a control appears to be more difficult in the international seas and deep seabed. On the other hand, ocean fertilization and carbon injection into the ocean floor may entail a negative impact on the marine environment. Thus, the use of such mechanisms aiming at mitigating the adverse effects of climate change should be carried out in accordance with the norms of both the law of the sea and international environmental law.