Deep seabed regime : Africa's contribution to its evolution and system of mining

• Main Author: Egede, Edwin
• Published: Cardiff University 2005
• Subjects: 340
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.583673

This thesis seeks to add to the existing literature by specifically attempting to examine from an African perspective, the regime of the Area, having regard to the changes introduced by the 1994 Agreement. It seeks to explore what Africa's contribution to the evolution and development of the regime was and to place this contribution in the context of certain historical, social, political and economic factors not only before and during Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), but also after the coming into force of Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) 1982, as well as the 1994 New York Implementation Agreement. Further, the thesis seeks to suggest that for African states the regime went beyond a mere set of legal rules, but rather had undertones that epitomise the recurring antagonism in international law and politics between the African states, as part of the developing states of the south, and the developed industrialised states of the north. In addition, the thesis considers the degree of African participation in the regime, and the possible hindrances to the actual participation of African states in deep seabed mining activities and the prospects of such participation in the near future.