{"title":"Navigating the waves of change—Assessing the evolving landscape of China’s revised marine environmental protection law","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.marpol.2024.106371","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Since its inception in 1982, the Marine Environmental Protection Law (MEPL) has undergone several revisions in 1999, 2013, 2016, and 2017, capping in the inclusive overhaul of 2023. These successive revisions have gradually shaped a robust legal system encompassing the Constitution as the foundational basis, the MEPL as the core regulatory instrument, and several corresponding laws safeguarding specific marine elements as the driving force. The newly revised MEPL 2023, compared to its previous iterations, introduces significant improvements that are largely reflected in strengthening the protection of marine biodiversity conservation, advancing the prevention and control of ship-source marine pollution, optimising the supervision of the marine environment, enhancing the prevention and control of land-based marine pollution, and imposing stricter liabilities. This paper examines how the new MEPL 2023 improves China’s marine environmental protection, and incorporates international best practices within the legal framework. Additionally, the research explores potential areas for further development that provide some implications for policymakers and should have been considered.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48427,"journal":{"name":"Marine Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Marine Policy","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X24003695","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Since its inception in 1982, the Marine Environmental Protection Law (MEPL) has undergone several revisions in 1999, 2013, 2016, and 2017, capping in the inclusive overhaul of 2023. These successive revisions have gradually shaped a robust legal system encompassing the Constitution as the foundational basis, the MEPL as the core regulatory instrument, and several corresponding laws safeguarding specific marine elements as the driving force. The newly revised MEPL 2023, compared to its previous iterations, introduces significant improvements that are largely reflected in strengthening the protection of marine biodiversity conservation, advancing the prevention and control of ship-source marine pollution, optimising the supervision of the marine environment, enhancing the prevention and control of land-based marine pollution, and imposing stricter liabilities. This paper examines how the new MEPL 2023 improves China’s marine environmental protection, and incorporates international best practices within the legal framework. Additionally, the research explores potential areas for further development that provide some implications for policymakers and should have been considered.
期刊介绍:
Marine Policy is the leading journal of ocean policy studies. It offers researchers, analysts and policy makers a unique combination of analyses in the principal social science disciplines relevant to the formulation of marine policy. Major articles are contributed by specialists in marine affairs, including marine economists and marine resource managers, political scientists, marine scientists, international lawyers, geographers and anthropologists. Drawing on their expertise and research, the journal covers: international, regional and national marine policies; institutional arrangements for the management and regulation of marine activities, including fisheries and shipping; conflict resolution; marine pollution and environment; conservation and use of marine resources. Regular features of Marine Policy include research reports, conference reports and reports on current developments to keep readers up-to-date with the latest developments and research in ocean affairs.