ABSTRACT
Environmental problems referring to the quality of the marine environment are in most cases of transboundary nature or even global. From this point of view, international regulations have contributed to a great extent to the mitigation of the problems facing oceans, regional seas, coastal areas and marine ecosystems. In addition, during the past forty years’ groups of states have established many international bodies with competence over various environmental issues, developing further cooperation for international action. The main document to establish order for the seas and oceans is the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); although UNCLOS does not include any direct measures regarding marine eutrophication, it refers to the protection of fragile ecosystems, habitats and endangered species. As marine environmental concerns are a matter of national, regional and international policy, an aggregation of laws, rules, norms and institutions have formed “clusters” of legal material and legal frameworks. The most significant cluster is the “United Nations Regional Seas Programs” launched in 1974. Thirteen regional seas programs have been set up and function around the world covering 149 states. There is also a number of Regional Conventions covering many marine areas as well as relevant EU Directives. All these Conventions and EU Directives, directly or indirectly refer to the phenomenon of eutrophication. In the present chapter, this material is briefly reviewed and its relevance to marine eutrophication problems is discussed.
