Thesis
The human right to health and marine biodiversity nexus : an integrated approach for a healthy future
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2023
- Thesis identifier
- T16539
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201850839
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- It is now widely acknowledged within the scientific community that human and ocean health are intrinsically linked. Marine biodiversity underpins essential ecosystem services including providing food, nutrition, and biomedical inputs, and supporting the regulation of Earth’s climate. Yet despite a network of international and domestic law designed to protect our ocean, marine biodiversity is rapidly declining, driven by myriad anthropogenic factors including overfishing, habitat destruction and climate change. Faced with this troubling reality, in this thesis I explore how the human health and marine biodiversity nexus can be better recognised in international law to maximise health benefits and address trade-offs and drivers for health risks and marine biodiversity loss. I pioneer the argument that marine biodiversity plays an intrinsic role in facilitating the realisation of the right to health, given the many ways marine ecosystem services support enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. Based on this relationship, I contend that the right to health enshrined in international human rights law places obligations on States regarding governance of the marine environment. Having identified and discussed these obligations, I use deep seabed mining (DSM) in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) as a case study to test my approach. I demonstrate that, considering the potential for DSM to undermine human health by harming marine biodiversity, the draft legal regime for DSM currently being developed by the International Seabed Authority must address the human right to health. As I demonstrate in this thesis, at the time of writing there are notable incompatibilities between the two regimes. My research contributes to existing scholarship on the human rights and marine biodiversity interface by unpacking critical synergies between regimes for the protection of both the human right to health and the marine environment.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Morgera, Elisa
- Lomba, Sylvie Da
- Resource Type
- DOI
Relations
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PDF of thesis T16539 | 2023-04-12 | Public | Download |