مقررات دفن زباله دردریا: روش چینی

It was common along China's coastal region to throw wastes, including domestic and industrial, to the sea at random and without care. This has caused severe environmental problems, not only harming the marine environment, but also damaging the residential habitats of the coastal region itself. Unfortunately, before 1982 offshore wastes dumping was not regulated in China. The actual regulations governing such dumping in China formally began in 1982 when the basic law on marine environmental protection, i.e., the Marine Environmental Protection Law came into being. The significance of the regulation of wastes dumping lies in the fact that it consists of an indispensable part of the comprehensive marine environmental protection system in China. What is more significant is that under the current circumstance that China has been building a harmonious society for its people, the reach of the harmony between Nature and human beings is critical. Thus effective control of wastes dumping at sea is a necessary component in the efforts towards that reach. Since China is the biggest country and has longest mainland coastal line in East Asia, its laws and practice in this regard concerns with the marine environmental protection of the whole East Asian seas. This paper will address the wastes dumping issue in a legal perspective, including analyzing and assessing the relevant laws and regulations, their implementation and enforcement in China. In addition, it will compare the Chinese regulations with relevant international laws to see whether the Chinese law and its implementation are in line with them. For the purpose of the better explanation of China's law and practice, some relevant cases regarding wastes dumping will be addressed.

Marine environmental protection is still an important and serious task in the 21st century despite efforts made earlier at the global, regional and national levels. According to a recent report published in Science, many fish species would be extinct by around 2050 [1], and the global ocean remains to be threatened by natural as well as human adverse environmental impacts. Dumping of wastes, though not a number one threat to the ocean ecological systems continues to remain as a visible source of pollution which needs to be effectively tackled to better protect the marine environment. According to statistics, there are three main sources of pollution in China: (1) land-based pollution, which is the biggest source of pollution; almost half of the total wastewater of the country is discharged to the sea, which accounts to about 80% of the pollutants at sea; (2) discharge of wastewater and dumping of wastes to the sea by marine activities and production; and (3) pollutants carried by air from various places, falling into the sea [2]. It was a common practice along China's coastal region to throw wastes, including domestic and industrial, to the sea. This has caused severe environmental problems, not only harming the marine environment, but also damaging the settlements along the coastal region itself. Unfortunately, before 1982, offshore waste dumping was not regulated in China. Only the dredges in the port waters were managed by the Harbour Superintendence Administration [3]. The actual regulations of dumping at sea in China were formally introduced in 1982 when the basic law on marine environmental protection, i.e., the Marine Environmental Protection Law (MEPL) came into being. It entered into effect on 1 March 1983 and substantially amended in December 1999 [4].1 Following this basic law, relevant regulations including the 1985 Regulations Concerning Dumping of Wastes at Sea and the 1990 Measures for Implementation of the Regulations Concerning the Dumping of Wastes at Sea were adopted. These regulations become the main legal documents governing waste dumping activities in China. The regulations on waste dumping are important because they are an indispensable part of a comprehensive marine environmental protection system in China. What is more significant is China's goal to create a harmonious society for its people; balancing between the capacities of nature and needs of human beings. Thus effective control of waste dumping at sea is a necessary component in the efforts towards that goal. Since China is the biggest country and has the longest mainland coastline in East Asia, its laws and practices in this regard affect the marine environmental protection of the whole East Asian seas. This paper will address the waste dumping issue in a legal perspective, including analyzing and assessing the relevant laws and regulations, their implementation and enforcement in China. In addition, it will compare the Chinese regulations with relevant international law to see whether the Chinese law and its implementation are in line with the latter. Some relevant cases regarding waste dumping will be discussed as well.

The regulation and management in the field of waste dumping at sea in China have improved in recent years due to the efforts above. However, there is much room for improvement. The environmental situation in China is reaching a “critical point,” and more and more environmental problems are worsening. China will face a serious environmental challenge by 2020 [24]. The same situation is expected to occur in the marine environment. The latest report reveals that the quality of the marine environment continues to decline despite tremendous efforts by the Chinese government. The recent survey revealed that about 80% of the sea water around the Yangtze River estuary and surrounding sea areas (38,000 km2) is in very bad quality and bottom-dwelling species were not found in one-third of the seabed [25]. It is also reported that with the rapid economic growth every year, and the increase of new offshore projects, waste dumping activities and the quantity of dumped wastes will accordingly increase [15]. Thus strengthening the management of ocean waste dumping becomes an important task in the overall work of the protection of the marine environment. Secondly, at the legislation level, the regulations governing waste dumping at sea were adopted as early as 1985. More than two decades have passed and there are a lot of changes both at the international and domestic levels. At the international level, IMO, following the London Convention, adopted numerous regulations and measures concerning waste dumping. Most significant is the 1996 Protocol as mentioned above. China, as a party to both the London Convention and the 1996 Protocol, should accommodate the relevant new legal norms and rules into its domestic legislation. At the domestic level, the 1982 MEPL has been substantially amended and new laws and regulations governing other areas of the marine environmental protection have been also adopted. However, the 1985 Dumping Regulations have remained unchanged. Thus doubts naturally arise as to whether such regulations can still be used to govern the management of waste dumping at sea. Thirdly, as it is known, China has adopted the straight baselines to measure its territorial sea. Although only part of its baselines and base points were publicized in 1996, the size of China's internal waters is immense. The existing dumping sites in practice are generally located in the internal waters rather than in the territorial sea or EEZ. In that case, they are not subject to the regulation of the 1996 Protocol although China can adopt similar domestic laws reflecting the spirit and letter of the Protocol and bears the treaty obligation to provide the competent international organization with “information on legislation and institutional mechanisms regarding implementation, compliance and enforcement in marine internal waters”.22 Thus there are some doubts as to whether China's regulations are sufficient enough and effective in governing the waste dumping activities in its internal waters. Finally, there is a general trend towards more stringent rules and standards concerning the dumping of wastes at sea. This has already been reflected in the shift of definition from the 1972 London Convention to the 1996 Protocol, which covers more such activities. The creation of the “reverse list” is also significant in the sense that it only allows a few categories of wastes to be dumped at sea. The tightening process still continues and some waste items contained in the reverse list may be deleted in future. The IMO recently issued a press release stating that storage of carbon dioxide under the seabed is now allowed starting from 10 February 2007 under amendments to the London Convention. It is well perceived that the competent international organization will take further measures in developing and improving the existing legal regime on the dumping of waste at sea. It is necessary for China on the one hand to be actively involved in the negotiation process of future developments and on the other hand to be well prepared at the domestic level to respond timely and harmoniously to the new legal developments under the auspices of the IMO.