Prevention and management of marine litter and improving marine tourism

There was a time, when nations felt fortunate if their national boundaries were marked by bodies of water. This sense seemed to be proportionate to the expanse, depth, and length of the body of water marking the national territory. Knowing that water is not the natural habitat of humans, the nations, particularly with marine boundaries, felt a sense of security because traversing the expanse of oceans would have been a daunting task. However, with the progress of civilization, floating vessels appeared on the water expanses and advances in marine navigation and engineering transformed the vessels from wind dependent sailboats to steam propelled ships. This, in turn, changed the role of oceans from the daunting barriers to the routes of marine trade. Today, in the age of globalization, not only the exotic items but also the items of daily necessities such as clothing, food products, and oil (the life blood of modern society) are transported over oceanic routes and claim more than an 80percent share of international traffic. Today, although the nations with expansive marine coast and harbours can be considered fortunate in that they have easy access to global trade, they have also become the recipients of marine pollution caused by marine traffic. Naturally, there is a call for increase in regulation of growing international marine traffic and pollution. For decades, such calls are handled by the International Maritime Organization (IMO or the Organization). The organization came into existence on March 17, 1958 when the IMO Convention took effect. Until 1982, the IMO was known as International Maritime Consultative Organization or IMCO. It has functioned as an arm of the United Nations and is responsible regulating international maritime affairs. In keeping with the changing times its mission has evolved from regulation of international shipping to the current mission expressed as “Safe, Secure and Efficient Shipping on Clean Oceans.” In less than 50 years it has developed close to 40 conventions. Five of these conventions deal exclusively with marine environment and are in force while two more environmental conventions have been adopted and will soon take effect. Along with the IMO, which has played a prominent role at the global level in developing international legal instruments, several regional organizations are also addressing the issue and are developing legal instruments to do so.