{"id":234866,"date":"2024-07-10T08:34:32","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T08:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/?p=234866"},"modified":"2024-07-10T08:34:32","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T08:34:32","slug":"all-threats-to-the-sea-come-from-humans-how-lawyers-are-gearing-up-to-fight-for-the-oceans-mari","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/all-threats-to-the-sea-come-from-humans-how-lawyers-are-gearing-up-to-fight-for-the-oceans-mari\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018All threats to the sea come from humans\u2019: how lawyers are gearing up to fight for the oceans | Mari…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A<\/span> few years ago, Anna von Rebay gave up her lucrative job in a corporate law firm specialising in art law to concentrate on her passion for the ocean. \u201cAll threats to the sea come from humans, who behave as though nature is nothing more than a resource,\u201d says Von Rebay, who works in Germany and Indonesia. \u201cBut the ocean can\u2019t stand up for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by a rising wave of lawsuits<\/a> seeking to hold governments and companies to account for climate action, she set up Ocean Vision Legal<\/a>, a law firm with a unique remit: to litigate on the ocean\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy aim was to motivate people, organisations and states to take legal action to enforce ocean protection,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She is not alone. Last year, the UN Environment Programme (Unep) said lawsuits challenging government and corporate inaction on the climate breakdown<\/a> have become an important driver of change. There have been more than 2,500 lawsuits relating to the climate crisis<\/a> around the world \u2013 and many relate to the ocean.<\/p>\n

In January, Von Rebay\u2019s firm initiated preliminary proceedings against Germany on behalf of Bund, a German conservation NGO, for issuing fishing licences that allow bottom trawling, a destructive fishing practice, in a marine protected area (MPA) of the Dogger Bank.<\/p>\n

A harbour porpoise, one of the species that live in the protected Dogger Bank.<\/span> Photograph: mauritius images GmbH\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the largest sandbanks in the North Sea, and home to porpoises and seals, the Dogger Bank is a protected area <\/a>under the EU habitats directive. There was no environmental impact assessment carried out before permits were issued, Bund alleges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think this is illegal and now the ministry is looking at our objection,\u201d says Von Rebay.<\/p>\n

If the case proceeds, it could set a precedent, with implications for other European countries\u2019 licences if they allow bottom trawling in areas protected under the directive. Two NGOs, Bloom and ClientEarth, have already threatened France with legal action<\/a> over allowing bottom trawling in MPAs in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

Von Rebay, a surfer, is proactive on the ocean\u2019s behalf. Since Iceland decided to resume whaling<\/a> last month, she is working on a letter to the Human Rights Council, a UN body, warning that NGOs and others consider allowing whaling to be a potential infringement of the right to a healthy environment.<\/p>\n

Von Rebay\u2019s firm is heading a call for a universal declaration of ocean rights.<\/span> Photograph: Marcus Richter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This month, her firm will launch a collective movement of NGOs and intergovernmental bodies calling for a universal declaration of ocean rights, similar to the rights of nature<\/a>. It is also looking into the legal implications of deep-sea mining.<\/p>\n

Von Rebay, however, is not the only lawyer exploring litigation as a tool against an industry as yet in its infancy but which could pose one of the greatest threats to the oceans. One of the world\u2019s biggest environmental groups, the WWF, announced in May<\/a> that it is suing the Norwegian government for opening up its seabed for deep-sea mining, claiming that Norway<\/a> has failed to properly investigate the consequences of such activity.<\/p>\n