Reframing Integrated (Meta) Ocean Governance Under Sustainable Development Goal-14 For The Protection Of Marine Environment: A Comparison Of China And Pakistan

Oceans,one of the major sources of life on earth,are being polluted heavily.The primary causes behind decline of marine environment,ecosystems and life are landbased and atmospheric pollution.The impact of the aforementioned pollution sources on fisheries,coral reefs,species and overall marine life is usually ignored because of the unorganised,dis-integrated,uncoordinated and fragmented ocean governance.In order to deal with the land-based and atmospheric pollution sources,United Nations has recently recognised the global community’s environmental interests in ocean governance through the Sustainable Development Goal 14.The marine environmental protection targets under the Sustainable Development Goals stand in need of rejuvenating International Environmental Law,which fosters interconnection between oceans,climate,and terrestrial ecosystems.The indicators of the ocean governance in this new agenda are concrete and workable because they deal with marine environmental protection holistically.The indicators depict the importance of the global,regional and national mechanisms for local ocean action.However,the existing literature on this aspect of ocean governance is segregated and lacks an ecosystembased approach.Therefore,a comprehensive review of the literature on ocean governance with an ecosystem-based approach becomes essential and is conducted through this research.This thesis has proposed that ocean governance programmes and plans need to be re-arranged under established legal frameworks at national and regional levels.Such a challenge can be addressed by taking the elements of governance provided by the list of targets of sustainable development goals.This thesis has facilitated the given hypothesis via a meta-ocean-governance framework that incorporates a deliberate regional monitoring system,intergovernmental review,capacity building techniques,national action through strong institutions,scientific decision-making,and policy coherence.The idea is to fit the conceptualisation of ocean governance under international environmental law in the existing initiatives within a box of institutions to coordinate and encourage an ecosystem-based approach.Applicability of the hypothesis on regional,bilateral,and national mechanisms of China and Pakistan may provide further effective results for future ocean governance at various levels.Therefore,this thesis intends to compare the ocean governance regimes of China and Pakistan.The comparison is framed for marine environmental protection,and through this framework the comparison is drawn under a larger scope of ocean governance.Apart from the Introduction,this thesis has six chapter.The second chapter is a general legal framework regarding the concept of meta-governance.This chapter formulate the international environmental treaties and conventions in form of metagovernance framework.Thereafter,the third chapter illustrate the concept of ‘metaocean governance’ under international law and Law of the Sea.The results of the first(Chapters 2 and 3)chapters have already been published in form of research papers in well reputed journals.The fourth and fifth chapter analyses the existing ocean governance framework of China and Pakistan in the hypothesis produced in the chapters 2 and 3.The conclusion of the thesis is followed by a chapter on comparison and recommendations based on good practices at regional,global and national levels.The conclusion emphasises on bilateralism of ocean governance by seeking possibility of this through cooperation among China and Pakistan.