Protection of Marine Environment  
              under the Law of the Sea 
           
           
           
           
                      [Theint Nandar Htet] 
           
           United Nations – The Nippon Foundation of Japan Fellowship Programme 
                          [2017] 
                            
                            
                            
           
           
                                            
                               
                             
                         DISCLAIMER 
          The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the 
          views of the Government of the Union of Myanmar, the United Nations, the Nippon 
          Foundation of Japan, or the World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden.  
           
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                            
                         ABSTRACT 
                                               
                            
          Pollution in the ocean is a major problem affecting the ocean and the rest of the Earth, 
          too. Pollution directly affects ocean organisms, and indirectly affects human health 
          and  other  resources.  Oil  spills  and  dumping  of  toxic  wastes  and  other  harmful 
          materials into the sea are all major sources of pollution in the ocean.   
          Marine pollution  is  an  issue  that  has  been  of  global  concern  for  the  past  several 
          decades fearing that it will,  most probably, continue to be so for several decades 
          more,  the  international  community  has  formulated  rules  and  regulations  and 
          concluded a number of international conventions that comprehensively address the 
          protection  and  preservation  of  the  marine  environment.  Among  these,  the  United 
          Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea lays down the obligations of States to 
          protect and preserve the marine environment which requires States to cooperate on a 
          regional and global basic directly or through competent, organizations, in formulating 
          rules and standards for the protection of the marine environment. 
          Awareness of the environmental issues has become more critical to the oil industry 
          and regulators in the last decades. In recent years there has been a project concluded 
          between Myanmar and China under which a super tanker terminal, Kyaukphyu Deep 
          Seaport, has been constructed in the Rakhine region in the west coast of Myanmar 
          from where oil is piped across Myanmar  to China. This project makes Myanmar 
          become an oil receiver country  in millions  of  tons  per  annum,  so  the  risk  of  oil 
          pollution is likely to be significant. The problem encountered by Myanmar is how to 
          deal with it if oil pollution occurred in Myanmar waters. No laws as and regulations 
          concerning marine pollution from the shipping sector have been promulgated yet to 
          safeguard against such risk of pollution nor to deal with the matter of compensation in 
          case of pollution occurring.  
          The role of government in setting and enforcement of regulation is required means to 
          minimize the potential environmental impact. Therefore, in order to achieve a strong 
          national  legislative  framework  and  a  national  oil  spill  contingency  plan  for  the 
          protection of the marine environment and the prevention of marine pollution, it is 
          essential  for  Myanmar to establish the regulatory  regime in respect of prevention, 
          response,  restoration  and  compensation,  especially  as  she  is  party  the  UNCLOS, 
          MARPOL   and OPRC International Conventions and also to the ASEAN_MOU on  
          Corporation Mechanism for Joint Oil Spill Preparedness and Response, 
                                             
                             
          2014.  The  Myanmar  Environment  Conservation  Law  2012  does  not  adequately 
          address the legal issues that stem from the impact of ship-generated marine pollution.    
                            
          Supervisors:  
          Dr. Henning Jessen 
          Associate Professor, Maritime Law & Policy (MLP) 
          World Maritime University 
           Malmo, Sweden   
           Ms. Valentina Germani 
          Legal Officer, Programme Advisor 
          Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea -DOALOS 
          Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations 
          New York, United States of America 
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
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                        Acknowledgement