диссертация (1169188), страница 67
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At the same time, the International Union forConservation of Nature recognizes 13 Arctic regions as “Ecologically andBiologically Significant Areas,” including the Bering Strait.393Particularly sensitive sea areas are designated in accordance with IMOResolution A.982(24) adopted on 1 December 2005 (Revised Guidelines for theIdentification and Designation of Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas). 394 Theguidelines contain the IMO’s recommendations to its member states for preparingand filing an application for designating an area as a particularly sensitive seaarea.
Such an application may only be submitted by the government of a memberstate.If several states have a common interest in the area, they formulate a“coordinated proposal.” Member states may request technical assistance from theIMO while developing the application. Each application is submitted to the IMOMarine Environment Protection Committee, which then passes a correspondingresolution.
Each application submitted to the Marine Environment ProtectionCommittee contains two parts. The first part is dedicated to the description of thearea and its significance as well as the causes for the area’s vulnerability to391International Maritime Organisation / Official website of the UN. URL: http://www.un.org/ru/ecosoc/imo/ (lastaccessed on: 13 February 2016).392ParticularlySensitiveSeaAreas(PSSA)/OfficialwebsiteoftheIMO.URL:http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/HotTopics/PSSA/Pages/default.aspx (last accessed on: 13 February 2016).393Kevin C.
Hiimer–Pegram, Martin D. Robards. Relevance of a Particular Sensitive Sea Area to the Bering StraitRegion: a policy analysis using resilience–based governance principles. Ecology and Society. V. 20. No. 1. Art. 26.URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol20/iss1/art26/. (last accessed on: 13 February 2016).394IMOResolutionA.982(24)dated1December2005.URL:http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/PSSAs/Documents/A24–Res.982.pdf.
(last accessed on: 13 February2016).293damage by international shipping activities. In the second part, states suggestappropriate measures of marine environmental protection. Following theseguidelines, to designate the Bering Strait as a particularly sensitive sea area, statesmust substantiate that the strait, its coast and its population meet the definedecological, social, cultural, economic, scientific, and educational (pertaining tothe local population) criteria.395To be recognized as particularly sensitive, a sea area must meet at least onecriterion from any category,396 whereas the Bering Strait may be recognized as aparticularly sensitive sea area.Indeed, the region is characterized by considerable biological diversity. Itsinhabitants include:— many species of sea mammals, including bearded seals, ringed seals,spotted seals; walrus; grey and bowhead whales;— many species of fish, including polar cod and other varieties of foragingfish serving as sustenance for many sea animals; as well as whitefish and troutwhich are of significant importance to the traditional industry of indigenouspeoples;— a vast variety of marine birds, including least auklet, crested auklet,horned puffin, tufted puffin, black-legged kittywake, short-tailed shearwater, kingeider, spectacled eider, common murre, thick-billed murre, black guillemot.397The region’s indigenous peoples engage in fishing, hunting sea animals anddeer farming, which means their sustenance depends on the natural conditions,natural marine resources and the environmental prosperity of the region.As for the scientific and educational criteria, it must be noted that the 1972USSR-US Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection395Ristroph E.
B. Loosening Lips to Avoid Sinking Ships: Designing a Ship Communications System for the BeringStrait Region // Indiana International & Comparative Law Review. – 2014. – V. 24. No. 3. – P. 628.396IMOResolutionA.982(24)dated1December2005.URL:http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/PSSAs/Documents/A24–Res.982.pdf. (last accessed on: 13 February2016).397Report of the workshop to identify areas of ecological and biological significance or vulnerability in the Arcticmarineenvironment.LaJolla,California.2–4November2010.P.9.URL:https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/Rep–2011–001.pdf (last accessed on: 13 February 2016).294led to the implementation of the Shared Beringian Heritage Program, which hasbeen active since 1991.398 The official website of the program defines Beringia as“the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; onthe east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees northlatitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of the KamchatkaPeninsula.”399The preliminary conclusion is that the Bering Strait meets the definedcriteria of a particularly sensitive sea area.
Consequently, a joint Russia-USproposal to designate it as a particularly sensitive sea area within the frameworkof the IMO is legally possible. As noted, such joint proposal of the Bering Seastates should be accompanied by a comprehensive assessment of the key threatsto the environmental safety of the local population and the culture of theindigenous peoples, caused by the increase of commercial navigation in theBering Strait region and the corresponding threats to the environment. Such anassessment should be made with the involvement of the indigenous peoples andother categories of local population.
It is expected that the IMO would adopt sucha proposal if Russia and the US submitted it, which would oblige the two states todevelop further necessary measures of marine environmental protection.400 At thesame time, both Russia and the US hold a realistic view on both the positive andthe negative consequences of the increasing number and growing influence ofinternational organizations and international bureaucracy.
Therefore, expertsrefuse to make a confident prediction as to Russia and the US’s willingness toincrease that number. However, even to assess the practicality of such steps,Russia and the US have closely to consider the measures of marine environmentalprotection adopted by the IMO, as well as their consequences.IMO Resolution A.982(24) contains the list of the following measures:398Website of the “Beringia, A Shared Heritage” programme. URL: http://www.nps.gov/akso/beringia/about/ru–programhistory.cfm. (last accessed on: 13 February 2016).399Ibid.400Report…Alaska.26–28June2012.P.19.http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/nome_workshop_report_final.pdf. (last accessed on: 13 February 2016).URL:295— the general measure, i.e. the designation of an area as a special area or anemission control area, or application of special discharge restrictions to vesselsoperating in the area;— adoption of ship routeing and reporting systems near or in the area.The list is not exhaustive, and further marine environmental protectionmeasures may be developed and adopted with a due justification.In general, it may be stated that there are legal possibilities to designate theBering Strait as a particularly sensitive sea area, as an additional measure toprevent negative impact from navigation.
Only governments of the correspondingmember states may submit applications for such a designation to the IMO, whichin the case of the Bering Strait means the governments of the states bordering thestrait, Russia and the US. The implementation of such a measure depends on thepolitical will of the US and Russia.401§3. Content of the key legal sources applicable to the Bering StraitregionIt has been indicated above that according to English and Russian doctrinalsources all three marine components of the Bering Strait region (the northernBering Sea, the Bering Strait itself, and the southern Chukchi Sea) have not beenofficially (at the legislative level) treated by the states bordering the strait (Russiaand the U.S.) as their historic waters.
Consequently, the marine components ofthe Bering Strait region are represented as follows:— internal seas of Russia and the US (towards the coast from the baselines);— territorial sea of Russia and the US (up to 12 nm in width measured fromthe baselines towards the sea);— EEZs and continental shelf of Russia and the US.401Workshop II Report.
Workshop on Expanded Shipping and Other Marine Activities and the Ecology of theBering Strait Region. Washington, D.C., USA. 31 October – 2 November 2012. P. 10–11. URL:https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/iucn_beringworkshopii2013_russian.pdf. (last accessed on: 13 February 2016).296The land of the Bering Strait region is represented by the Chukchi Peninsula(Russia), the Alaska Peninsula (the US), the island of Big Diomede (Russia), theisland of Little Diomede (the US), and Fairway Rock (the US).An extensive legal framework applies to the Bering Strait region: first of all,international treaties (universal, regional and bilateral) as well as some otherinternational legal sources.§ 3.1.
Universal international agreements applicable to the Bering StraitregionThe 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)Russia is a party to this “comprehensive” universal international agreementon the law of the sea. The US, having declined to ratify the Convention, is not.Even though the US does not treat Part XI of the UNCLOS (on the InternationalSeabed Area being “common heritage of mankind”) as mandatory, it neverthelessofficially recognizes every other part of the UNCLOS and follows the rights andobligations it establishes on the basis of customary international law.
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